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ED, I-T dept searches premises of Congress candidate in Telangana
G Vivek resigned from the party and joined the Congress on November 1. He is contesting as Congress candidate from Chennur assembly constituency in the November 30 assembly elections
Enforcement Directorate and Income Tax department authorities on Tuesday conducted simultaneous searches in the residences and offices of industrialist and former Telangana MP G Vivek and his relatives in Hyderabad and Mancherial, people familiar with the matter said.
Vivek, who represented Peddapalli parliamentary constituency between 2009 and 2019, had been with the Bharatiya Janata Party for a long time and was the chairman of the BJP manifesto committee in Telangana.
He resigned from the party and joined the Congress on November 1. He is contesting as Congress candidate from Chennur assembly constituency in the November 30 assembly elections.
As per the affidavit submitted by him to the Election Commission, Vivek, who owns Visakha industries, a popular Telugu television channel V6 and a newspaper “Velugu,” is the richest of all the candidates contesting the assembly polls with a net worth of over ₹606 crore.
A police official familiar with the development said on condition of anonymity that different teams of ED and I-T carried out the searches for five hours, starting 6 am in the residence of Vivek at Somajiguda in Hyderabad, besides his offices at Begumpet and his camp office at Mancherial.
The searches are linked to the freezing of a bank transaction worth ₹8 crore of Vivek’s firm Visakha Industries by the Hyderabad police on November 18, based on a complaint. The police identified that the money came into the company’s account from an unknown source on November 13 and it was immediately transferred to another firm owned by the ex-MP.
On instructions from the Election Commission, the police visited IDBI Bank Basheerbagh branch and enquired about the alleged transaction and froze the transaction. Police had also informed the Income-Tax department and joint director, Directorate of Enforcement of Hyderabad zone.
The former MP’s supporters staged a protest against the I-T raids outside his residence in Mancherial. They raised slogans against the Centre for allegedly targeting Vivek, days ahead of the assembly elections.
Raids were also conducted on the residences of Vivek’s relatives, including his brother Vinod, who is also contesting as Congress candidate from Bellampalli.
The ED and I-T sleuths reportedly checked the records. “While Vivek was away in the election campaign, the ED and I-T authorities collected details from the other inmates and left the place after obtaining their signatures,” the police official quoted above said.
