Days after G Janardhan Reddy’s daughter’s lavish wedding grabbed headlines for its splash-of-cash, the Income Tax Department has raided the mining baron’s offices in Bellari. Reportedly, a number of documents have been found and are being examined. His residence is also likely to be raided, reported India Today.
Reddy, a former BJP lawmaker, is on bail after 40 months in jail for his alleged involvement in the multi-crore mining scam in Karnataka during 2010-11.
Though Reddy was maintaining a low profile after his release, in January 2015, on conditional bail by the Supreme Court, an expensive marriage invitation sent out with a LCD screen playing a pre-wedding video raised eyebrows and brought him back into limelight.
For the wedding, Janardhan Reddy had reportedly recreated the entire Vijayanagara empire on a whopping 36 acres of land in Bengaluru. The marriage pavilion resembled the Vijaya Vittala temple in Hampi. The whole decoration was done by famous and costliest Bollywood art directors and hundreds of labourers have been working on it. Reddy had recreated a village, filled with elephants, chariots and camels, to put up a traditional front.
According to CNN-News18, the I-T officials entered Reddy’s offices and cordoned off the premises at around 12.30 pm on Monday. Officials said that taxmen visited seven locations in Bengaluru and three in Hyderabad of those event management companies which were given contracts to give a blockbuster look for the wedding of Bramhani last week in the city.
The department, after receiving reports of high spending for the event, initiated the action and is checking the account books, payment receipts and contract portfolios of these firms who specialise in creating special ambience and customised display for high-end spending clientele during their special events like weddings.
Once the scrutiny of accounts and contract books is done, further action of issuing notices to investigate tax evasion by both the contractor and the contractee will be undertaken.
