Income Tax officials raid mineral export, real estate firms in Andhra Pradesh

Income Tax officials on Thursday raided mineral export companies and real estate firms in Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam districts to probe alleged tax evasion, once again sparking a strong criticism from the ruling TDP, which alleged witch-hunting by the Centre to ‘damage the image of the State and frighten investors’ by conducting frequent I-T raids on investors. I-T officials reportedly drawn from neighbouring Telangana and Odisha and also from Chennai and Bengaluru reached Visakhapatnam on Wednesday night itself. Assisted by local I-T officials, around 10-15 teams left the Income Tax Department office at MVP Colony in Visakhapatnam in the wee hours of Thursday and conducted the raids in the two districts. The I-T sleuths raided Transworld Garnet India Pvt Ltd (TGI)  company and its offices situated at Duvvada - Visakhapatnam Special Economic Zone. A senior Telangana TDP leader has a stake in the TGI, a logistics company, and allegedly exporting beach minerals, sources said. The I-T officials reportedly found irregularities in exports and seized some incriminating documents. Some other teams went to the Navayuga Constructions office to check records.  Another team searched records in the residences of two Charted Accountants -- S Murali Krishna and Raghavendra Rao -- at MVP Colony amid police security. The I-T officials seized some documents from the two Chartered Accountants. The CAs are reportedly working for the two companies. Simultaneously, some I-T officials went to the GST  Commercial Tax Department office at Arilova to check records related to their raids. Several realtors also came under the scanner of the I-T sleuths apart from Navayuga Constructions. However, the I-T officials remained tight-lipped over the raids and did not disclose anything about the raids or seizures.