Income Tax department teams have been conducting searches on Sri Chaitanya colleges in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana as well as in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Chennai since Monday morning. They are currently conducting large-scale searches on Sri Chaitanya educational institutions based in Hyderabad.
It has come to light that Sri Chaitanya institutions are conducting illegal transactions such as taking huge amounts of cash from students and accepting the same cash again without paying tax. The IT department officials who conducted the searches said that they are thoroughly investigating the tax payments and transactions involved in this controversy.
These searches were conducted after receiving information that these educational institutions are taking money in cash from students and evading taxes. Also, suspicions have been expressed that these institutions are not only conducting transactions through software specially made for students, but also avoiding tax payments through other software.
In recent times, Sri Chaitanya educational institutions have emerged as the most prominent educational institutions in two Telugu states. As its promoter Dr P Narayana is a key minister in Chandrababu Naidu government holding crucial Municipal Administration ministry, they are also said to be enjoying `political patronage’.
They have developed a software for students that is useful for easily managing student fees and other payments as prescribed. But, this is where new problems came to light. It has been learned that through that software, money was being taken from students in cash and treated without paying the necessary taxes.
According to officials, it was found that this company was diverting the amount of money taken from students without paying taxes. The IT department has been receiving information about such illegal transactions for some time. Another thing has also come to light.
According to IT department officials, it was found that this company was also using another software and trying to change its tax payments in another way. It is said that this software was used to make changes to easily hide tax arrears through the software.
Recently, inspections were conducted at the headquarters of Sri Chaitanya College in Madhapur area of Hyderabad. During the search of this office, IT officials conducted large-scale secret inquiries there to collect more information.
The IT team is also trying to examine the available documents. Large-scale searches are being conducted to crack tax payment information and illegal transactions. Although various allegations have been made against these educational institutions in the past, the searches carried out by the IT department this time have become more intense. In the past too, the IT department and the tax department have regularly conducted inquiries against various colleges.