ED, IT teams raid granite businesses, Minister Gangula’s residence in Karimnagar

Karimnagar: In a joint operation, both Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax officials conducted raids on the offices of different granite units and transport agencies in Karimnagar town apart from on the residence of BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar on Wednesday. The central agencies also conducted a raid on the office of Swetha Granites in Mankammathota, […]

Karimnagar: In a joint operation, both Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax officials conducted raids on the offices of different granite units and transport agencies in Karimnagar town apart from on the residence of BC Welfare Minister Gangula Kamalakar on Wednesday.

The central agencies also conducted a raid on the office of Swetha Granites in Mankammathota, reportedly owned by the Minister. As nobody was available in the Minister’s residence, officials waited for about two hours and after consulting with higher officials, opened the lock by engaging a professional lock opener at 1 pm.

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The Minister, who was available in Karimnagar on Monday, had left for Dubai along with his family members but on being alerted about the raids, returned on Wednesday. Besides the Minister’s residence and office, raids were also carried out on the offices of PSR Granites, Aravind Vyas, Venugopal Karva and another place in Bavupet. About 10 teams of both the ED and IT wings took part in raids.

It is said that the raids were a fall out of complaints sent by BJP State president Bandi Sanjay Kumar as well as BJP leader Perala Sekhar Rao to the Central government against granite companies alleging that they were avoiding payment of tax and violating the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).

Based on the complaint, the union government had also issued notice to nine granite units and imposed a fine of Rs.749 crore on the granite units.