IT raids TDP MP's auditor in Andhra; Rs 45 lakh seized
New Delhi: Continuing with its country-wide raids, the Income Tax department late on Tuesday night raided premises of sitting TDP MP Galla Jayadev's accountant and auditor in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh, officials said here on Wednesday.
Gurappa Naidu is the auditor and accountant of Telugu Desam Party (TDP) MP Galla Jayadev, who is the Managing Director of Amara Raja Group, the parent company of Hyderabad-based Amaron Batteries.
Speaking to the Millennium Post, officials in the Central Board of Direct Taxes said that during the raids IT-officers recovered around Rs 45 lakh in cash. However, according to preliminary reports, IT sleuths are not sure whether the cash is unaccounted for or not.
Sources here, however, said the raiding officers are fairly certain about the money being used for expenses related to electioneering in the constituency that is to go to polls on Thursday (April 11).
Following the raids, Galla, who is contesting in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as well, organised a protest with fellow TDP workers at Pattabhipuram in Guntur and marched to the collector's office.
At the protest, the Guntur MP was quoted in the media as saying, "Our person has been detained & we don't know his whereabouts, I am demanding an explanation. Why are we being targeted, why are raids being conducted only on TDP leaders."
However, IT authorities categorically denied that the raids were related to any kind of political pressure. They said, "TDP candidate Galla Jayadev was not covered even remotely."
Galla was a parliamentarian who had moved the no-confidence motion against the PM-Modi led government last year and he has been a vocal critic of NDA over the issue of special status for Andhra Pradesh.
In addition to Galla's aide being raided, IT sleuths raided premises of Mydukur TDP candidate Putta Sudhakar Yadav on April 3. Two other TDP candidates namely Ugra Narasimha Reddy and Kovelamudi Ravindra were also put under the law enforcement agency's scanner recently.
