I-T department raids Telangana Congress chief Revanth Reddy

Hyderabad: The Income Tax Department on Thursday conducted searches at the residences of Telangana Congress Working president A Revanth Reddy in Hyderabad and at Kodangal in Vikarabad district.

According to sources, searches were also conducted at the residence of Sebastian Harry who was an accused along with Revanth Reddy in a case related to bribing a nominated MLA to seek vote in favour of a Telugu Desam nominee in the Legislative Council elections in June 2015.

The Congress party condemned the raids and termed it as "political vendetta" by the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi in the state and the BJP at the centre, but both the TRS and BJP denied the charge and said they had nothing to do with the I-T Department's actions.

A senior official of the I-T Department said the raids were aimed at an infrastructure company belonging to Revanth Reddy's relatives. Sources close to the development said searches were conducted at about a dozen places including those belonging to the relatives of the Congress leader at various locations in the city.

Revanth Reddy, who was appointed as one of the two working presidents of Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee recently, had earlier said that he was being targeted by the ruling parties and subjected to harassment.

Jubilee Hills police inspector P Chandra Shekar told news agency PTI that they deployed police force near the Congress leader's residence "to avoid any untoward incident".

Revanth Reddy was away from home when the sleuths knocked at his Jubilee Hills residence. He was said to be touring his constituency kicking off the election campaign.

Describing the I-T searches as "politically motivated", TPCC president Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that the TRS and BJP were hand in glove.

On May 31, 2015, Revanth Reddy, then in Telugu Desam Party, was caught by Anti-Corruption Bureau while allegedly paying a bribe of Rs 50 lakh to Elvis Stephenson, a nominated MLA, for supporting TDP nominee Vem Narendar Reddy in Legislative Council elections held on June 1, 2015. Later all the accused were granted bail.

"First it was @JaggaReddyT & now @revanthanumula, this is a clear sign of KCRs cowardice. He has no capacity to take on any of our leaders & hence resorts to these back-door moves. "@INCTelangana will be united in its fight to rid Telangana soon of his autocratic & whimsical rule," the TPCC president said in another tweet.

The city police had earlier issued notice to the Congress leader seeking his appearance as part of investigations in a case relating to alleged irregularities committed by office-bearers of a Co-operative Housing Society in 2004.

Speaking to reporters, Uttam Kumar Reddy dared the Income Tax department to conduct searches at Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence of caretaker chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.

"I dare Income tax officials. If you want money, go and conduct searches at Pragati Bhavan. You will get hundreds of crores. The ruling party is trying to oppress the opposition voice. At the time of elections they are resorting to such measures. These acts would not deter us from fighting against the TRS," he said.

The TRS denied the Congress party's allegations and distanced itself from the development. "He (Revanth Reddy) himself was claiming that there will be raids against him. The searches are nothing to do with our (TRS) government. They are trying to provoke public with their statements," TRS MLC Sudhakar Reddy said. Former BJP MLA Kishan Reddy said his party has nothing to do with the raids and condemned the remarks made by the Congress leaders that the BJP was behind them.