HYDERABAD: The Income Tax (I-T) department officials conducted raids on the residences and offices of Tollywood actors, producers and film studio owners, apart from offices of real estate businessmen in the city, and alleged seized documents relating to financial transactions here on Wednesday.
Around 7 am today, as many as ten teams led by senior officers of Income Tax department visited Ramanaidu Studios and Tollywood producer Daggubati Suresh Babu’s residence and his office and verified financial transactions made by him.
The IT officials thoroughly searched the premises for documents relating to transactions and submission of IT returns of the management. Some auditors working for the film producer were also questioned.
Similarly, the sleuths of IT department conducted searches on the residence and office of Daggubati Suresh Babu in the city and inquired about his new projects in Tollywood and sources of income. The IT officials also carried similar raids on the home of Tollywood actor Nani in Jubilee Hills, and actor Venkatesh and Akkineni Nagarjuna’s office.
After the IT officials collected records and documents, the officials informed the staff of these Tollywood actors to appear before the IT officials, along with auditors, if necessary, to clear their doubts. The IT sleuths have carried out such raids in several other places. In the city, the officials searched at least ten different places regarding Tollywood producers, actors, film studio offices and finance companies.
The IT officials conducted raids at the residence of ruling party MLA Madhavaram Krishna Rao and allegedly seized documents in connection with investments on benami names. They also conducted raids at offices of Praneethi Homes and their five directors, including MLA Krishna Rao’s son Sandeep Rao.
During verification of documents, a Telugu news paper reporter’s name also cropped up for having links with one of directors. The officials also noticed two businessmen’s names who were presumed to be benamies of the MLA.