I-T raids uncover Rs 300-cr dal trade scam

Hyderabad: The Income Tax Department’s investigation wing, Hyderabad, on Tuesday carried out raids simultaneously across 25 locations in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh in connection with the irregularities in supply of pulses to the AP government during the previous YSRCP regime. These raids reportedly uncovered a Rs 300-crore scam. According to officials, the raids were conducted in Hyderabad, Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam, Kurnool and other places.

These raids targeted traders who allegedly involved large-scale cash transactions, unaccounted money flow, and suspected failures in supplying pulses under the Public Distribution System (PDS).

Officials said that investigation revealed that during the previous YSR Congress Party (YSRCP) government’s tenure, a period marked by aggressive welfare promises, several trading companies secured tenders and received payments from the Civil Supplies Department but did not deliver the pulses.

The I-T raids were carried out on companies such as Hindustan Traders in Visakhapatnam and V Care, an Ahmedabad-based shipping and logistics group, in Kurnool. Both these companies were raided earlier this year as part of the ongoing probe. In the latest raids, I-T sleuths reportedly seized documents, financial records, and transactional data. Officials are reviewing evidence.