I-T Benami Unit Attaches 282 Acres on Hyderabad Outskirts; 17 Orders Cover Land Worth ₹2,002 Crore

I-T Benami Unit Attaches 282 Acres on Hyderabad Outskirts; 17 Orders Cover Land Worth ₹2,002 Crore 

The Income Tax Department’s Benami Prohibition Unit (BPU), Hyderabad, issued 17 provisional attachment orders covering the 282-acre land parcel in Koheda and Omer Khan Daira villages of Abdullapurmet mandal on the outskirts, with the total value of the properties pegged at ₹2,002 crore. According to the orders, the land transactions, initially involving erstwhile Sanghi Industries Ltd, a listed company, Incor Realty Projects, and Venkateshwara Realty, were found prima facie to be benami in nature, with Incor Realty identified as the benamidar and Ravi Sanghi and his family members named as the beneficial owners through a web of partnership firms and trusts. 

Investigation by BPU revealed that Ravi Sanghi and family allegedly undervalued "non-core" land to avoid regulatory scrutiny and shareholder approval required by SEBI. SEBI regulations state that all related party transactions shall require prior approval of the audit committee and non-promoter shareholders' approval. The BPU alleged the case is an example to "defraud minority shareholders" by concealing the true beneficial ownership of the buyers. 

The orders stated, "The case involves a pre-meditated conspiracy by the erstwhile promoters of Sanghi Industries Ltd (SIL) to siphon off valuable corporate land assets into a private firm controlled by them, just prior to the company being acquired by another company." It was identified that Venkateshwara Realty, a partnership firm controlled by Ravi Sanghi and his family, was the prima facie beneficial owner. Venkateshwara Investments Trust (VIT) and Venkateshwara Ventures Trust (VVT) are the private trusts established to hold the family's investment in VR and enjoy future profits. Veptor Projects Pvt Ltd (VPPL), a sister company of Incor, was "rewarded" with a Joint Development Agreement (JDA) to develop the siphoned lands. Erstwhile SIL made a disclosure to SEBI stating the non-core surplus land was being sold to a non-related party, whereas it finally went into the hands of a related party. 

Modus Operandi & Artificial Undervaluation 

Initially, SIL registered the sale of approximately 282 acres of land to Incor for a consideration of roughly ₹84 crore, which was intentionally kept below the 10% turnover threshold (₹92.8 crore) to avoid triggering mandatory audit committee and shareholder approvals. Incor acted merely as a transitional conduit. While SIL issued acknowledgements of receipt, IRP did not pay for the land using its own resources; instead, it waited for funds to be provided by the real buyer. Once Ravi Sanghi and his family received payment from the company that purchased their shares in SIL, they recycled a portion of these proceeds (₹245 crore) into Venkateswara Realtors as capital. Venkateswara Realtors then paid Incor for the land, and on the very same day, on December 8, 2023, IRP used those funds to pay SIL for the original purchase. Once the promoters exited SIL management, they executed rectification deeds to dramatically increase the declared land value from ₹84 crore to ₹218 crore for all land parcels. Investigations uncovered morphed photographs and bogus, back-dated valuation reports prepared in 2024 but dated to 2023, used to create a facade of legitimacy for the price revisions. 

#hyderabad #Telangana #Benami

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