IT Raids on Caps Gold and Vasavi Group Enter Fourth Day - Uncovering Financial Irregularities

Hyderabad: The Income Tax (IT) department has extended its raids on Caps Gold Private Limited and Vasavi Group of companies for the fourth consecutive day. The raids, which began on Wednesday, are focused on uncovering financial irregularities, including suspected tax evasion and fund diversion through cash transactions.

The IT department is targeting Caps Gold Private Limited, also known as Chanda Anjaiah Parameshwar (CAP), one of the country’s leading gold and silver bullion merchants. The officials are also conducting searches on the directors of Caps Gold and their associated real estate firms, suspecting tax evasion in the last financial year’s income tax returns.

Simultaneously, searches are being carried out on the Vasavi Group of companies and their real estate ventures, where Caps Gold directors are partners. The IT officials suspect that large-scale fund diversion through cash transactions has contributed to tax evasion. In the presence of company auditors, IT teams have brought some Vasavi partners to banks and opened lockers, reportedly seizing documents, gold, and other valuables. They later moved to Vasavi’s head office in Banjara Hills and questioned the partners.

The searches have covered Caps Gold chairman Chanda Narsimha Rao, managing director Chanda Venkatesh, and directors, including Sreenivas Rao Chanda and Abhishek Chanda. However, investigators have focused primarily on Sreenivas Rao, Abhishek, and others who have invested in Vasavi real estate projects.

IT teams have reportedly found that Caps Gold supplied bullion to jewelry merchants and shops, received cash payments, and diverted the money. Abhishek Chanda is linked to multiple entities, including Kalasha Realtors, Vasavi Group, Vasavi Drisha Realtors, Vasavi Incredible Realtors, Vasavi Realtors and Developers, Vasavi Holistic Corporate Services, Sree Nandan Builders and Developers, Vasavi Buildox, Lorven Gold and Jewellery, Kalasha Infra Con, Vasavi Craft, Vasavi Pioneers, Vasavi Signet, Value Gold Private Ltd, and Caps Gold itself.

Following the sustained raids, Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials are closely monitoring developments and are likely to register an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) given the scale of suspected violations. Sources indicated that the ED may also step in if the case attracts provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).