The Income Tax department continued its searches at the houses and offices of Telangana Labour and Employment Minister Malla Reddy and his family members for a second consecutive day on Wednesday.
Simultaneous searches were carried out at the premises of the minister, his sons, son-in-law and other family members and top officials of various institutions run by Malla Reddy Group.
More than 50 teams were carrying out the searches at multiple locations in Hyderabad and neighbouring Medchal Malkajgiri district.
About 200 I-T personnel from the tax evasion wing are reportedly taking part in the searches since early Tuesday. The searches reported to have yielded seizure of Rs 8 crore unaccounted cash and some important documents.
The I-T department is likely to come out with a statement on the searches and the seizure by Wednesday evening.
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According to sources, raids were conducted for alleged tax evasion by different institutions run by Malla Reddy. There are also allegations of inappropriate allocation of convener quota seats in Malla Reddy medical, pharmacy and engineering colleges. The IT officials were investigating the bank accounts used for the transactions of these seats.
The I-T sleuths were conducting searches at the residences of the ministers, his sons Mahendra Reddy and Bhadra Reddy, son-in-law M. Rajasekhar Reddy and brother Gopal Reddy, who is the chairman of CMR group of institutions.
The I-T department is investigating allegations of Malla Reddy and his family's investments into real estate during the last few years.
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Malla Reddy, who owns Malla Reddy University and runs several professional colleges, has also reportedly made investments in malls, petrol pumps and purchased lands at several places.
The minister's family members hold key positions in the educational societies which run the institutions. Malla Reddy's wife Kalpana Reddy is the vice-president of CMR Educational Society, Malla Reddy Educational Society, Chandramma Educational Society and St Martin's Educational Society.
Telangana minister calls I-T raids 'political vendetta'
Telangana's Minister for Labour and Employment Malla Reddy on Wednesday alleged that the BJP government at the Centre was carrying out the Income Tax (I-T) raids on his premised out of "political vendetta".
As the I-T Department continued searches at the offices and residences of Malla Reddy and his family members for a second day, the Minister slammed the Central government for what he called its conspiracy to target them and their institutions.
Telling reporters that CRPF personnel also acted with highhandedness with his son, he said that "all this is happening because I am the minister in the TRS government. They are deliberately doing all this to target the KCR government".
Malla Reddy's elder son Mahender Reddy was taken to hospital with chest pain.
The Minister alleged that his son was harassed which led to his taking ill.
"My elder son was harassed. He is serious. I am going to the hospital," he said.
I-T officials accompanied the Minister when he left for the hospital in Suraram.
He further alleged the Narendra Modi government at the Centre was using 200 officials to conduct the ongoing raids.
"Are we thieves? Are we indulging smuggling or running casinos?" he queried and said the institutions were built by him and his family members with the hard work of several years.
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Malla Reddy also claimed that the educational institutions run by him were helping students from poor families by providing them engineering and MBA seats at a concessional fee.
A large number of the Minister's supporters and TRS workers gathered outside his house in Bowenpally and raised slogans against the Centre.
