The fraudulent sale of ultra-expensive plots at one of Asia’s biggest housing societies located in Hyderabad, has caught the eye of the Income Tax Department. Eleven properties located within the Jubilee Hills Co-operative House Building Society Limited (JHCHBS), are under the Income Tax Department’s scanner for alleged benami transactions. The value of each of the plots being investigated ranges between Rs 25 crore to Rs 50 crore. Between August 2021 and March 2022, the Society received five notices from the I-T department under Section 19 of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act of 1988. The department had sought details about 11 plots as part of the ongoing investigation into the benami transactions in the society.
The Society’s management committee representatives have provided them all available details about the plots, as part of the ongoing investigation. So far, they have provided documentary material in regards to allotment of plots under investigation, details about payment of development charges by the members of the society, registration details and details about subsequent transfer of the plots etc. According to a source, among the 11 properties that are presently being investigated, 10 are residential properties. The Society has around 3,200 plots in total which constitutes nearly 1,160 acres of land located in the heart of the city and has around 5,000 members. According to sources, several plots belonging to NRIs have been sold through fraudulent allotment letters.
Speaking to TNM, JHCHBS President Bollineni Ravindranath said the issue about benami transactions came to light last year when the new management of the society found that a plot of land had been sold fraudulently by faking ID proof and by impersonating the real owner. “The original owner of the plot was in the US, while there was an attempt to sell the plot without the real owner's knowledge. A fake voter ID was used as proof of identity. A complaint was filed regarding this fraudulent transaction and a criminal case was booked last year. In the investigation that followed, the I-T department found several plots had been similarly sold. Their investigation is presently underway and we are cooperating fully with them," Ravindranath said.
The I-T department which began investigation into this case, realised the case was only the surface of the deep-rooted corruption. Soon, investigation led them to the sale of other plots and they identified 11 plots where the paper trail is murky. According to information from the society, one of the 11 properties was allotted in the year 1981 while another plot was allotted in 1991. The rest of the properties under the scanner were allotted in 1988. TNM has accessed notices issued by the I-T department asking for relevant documents to be submitted in regards to the plots. Interestingly, according to the President of the society, three files, 212-D-III, 1263-A, 575-F-III were taken away by A Murali Mukund, the Secretary of the society. It is yet to be determined if these files had information pertaining to the sale of these 11 plots. This was informed to the I-T department and a complaint was also submitted to the Jubilee Hills police station. The files are yet to be returned by the Secretary.
The Jubilee Hills Co-operative House Building Society is not new to controversies. According to the management of the Society, several committees were set up to look into the irregularities in the housing society but no action was taken. In January 2015, a House Committee consisting of MLAs and MLCs was set up to probe into irregularities in Filmnagar, Jubilee Hills and other cooperative societies. The committee was to submit the report in three months. However, the report has not seen the light of the day. The Additional Registrar of Cooperative Societies, N Kiranmayee had also prepared a report on the irregularities in the society. "Several investigations were carried out by the Vigilance department, CID, House Committee and our report has also been submitted, but nothing has been made public and no action has been taken. We demand that the reports be made public and action be taken against those found guilty," she said.