Raids on Megha has TRS quaking
TRS leaders said to have stake in MEIL; party fears I-T has picked up evidence
Income-Tax (I-T) raids against business tycoon Krishna Reddy’s residences and business establishments of M/s Megha Engineering Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) in Hyderabad and other parts of the country have been causing much worry to ruling party leaders because of his close association with TRS president and Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao.
I-T officials, armed with a five-day warrant to enter and conduct searches in the residences and office premises of the MEIL Ltd. directors and officials in
15 locations in Hyderabad and in the company's properties in Delhi and Mumbai, Varanasi, Jaipur, Bhopal, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar and Bengaluru simultaneously, have been conducting these searches from October
11.
I-T officials concluded their searches and left the MEIL Ltd. premises at around 4.30 pm on Tuesday.
With the five-day searches concluding, ruling party leaders, worrying about whether or not the I-T sleuths could succeed in getting any incriminating material against the Megha Engineering and its officials, were on tenterhooks.
There is talk among political parties that some ruling party leaders have stakes in MEIL and if anything goes against the company, it would put them in trouble.
It was being mentioned in political circles that two ministers of the state Cabinet had tried to enter Mr Krishna Reddy’s residence in the city. The I-T sleuths were carrying out the searches and paramilitary forces personnel who were providing them security did not allow the politicians inside.
It may be mentioned here that MEIL Ltd. is one of the major infrastructure service providers in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana state. MEIL was awarded the contract for construction of the Kaleshwaram project, one of the world's largest lift irrigation projects and a flagship programme of the Telangana government’s Mission Bhagiratha, which provides water to every household with a
45,500-kilometre pipeline at an estimated cost of
`40,000 crore.
The company also constructed the Pattiseema irrigation project in record time in Andhra Pradesh.
Besides the Telugu states, MEIL Ltd. has large power projects in Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh, Megha Engineering has also built the Khargone lift irrigation project in Madhya Pradesh.