Hyderabad: I-T raids Bala Vikasa offices

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad unit of the Income-Tax department on Wednesday conducted simultaneous raids at 40 places in Hyderabad and Warangal on non-profit organisations like Bala Vikasa Social Service Society offices.

The Indo-Canadian NGO -- Bala Vikasa Society -- has been receiving funds under the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FRCA) rules.

The Society has a parent NGO named Sopar Bala Vikasa in Canada which has been contributing funds to the Society in Telangana for years. I-T sources said that these organisations had failed to file I-T returns. The preliminary probe revealed Rs 412 crore transactions took place from the two societies headed by its Executive Director Singareddy Shoury Reddy.

The I-T sleuths conducted searches at the Kazipet office in Hanamkonda district, offices in the erstwhile Warangal district, the recently opened corporate office at Keesara near Hyderabad and other places simultaneously.

Sources said the raids were also conducted on the houses of Shoury Reddy, and founder S Bala Theresa Gingras in Kazipet and Hyderabad. Bala Vikasa was founded by Singareddy Bala Theresa Gingras and her husband, André Gingras, a career diplomat with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Officials said that the societies allegedly diverted funds and utilised them to buy assets in the name of Shoury Reddy and his wife Sunitha in Hyderabad and Warangal cities. Meanwhile, Minister E Dayakar Rao condemned the I-T raids. "The raids on the organization which has been doing selfless public service for the last 25-30 years by raising funds from the country and abroad are painful," he said, adding that the I-T had targeted the organisation since it was a Christian missionary organization. "In a secular and democratic country, the BJP government at the Centre is engaging in communal politics," he added.