Hyderabad: Income-Tax officials on Tuesday searched the house of city-based businessman Banapuram Laxman Rao who had declared he possessed Rs 9,800 crore under the IDS but failed to pay the stipulated first instalment tax.

As per the IDS regulations, those who declared their undisclosed income should pay a 40 per cent tax including Krishi Kalyan Cess and Swachh Bharat Cess in three instalments — 25 per cent by the end of November, 2016, another 25 per cent by the end of March, 2017, and the remaining amount by September 30, 2017. But, Mr Laxman Rao did not pay the first instalment by November 30.

His company, BLR Builders and Developers Ltd, was registered on May 13, 2008. BLR Power Projects Ltd, was incorporated in 2013. The remaining companies — BLR Energy Private Ltd, BLR Tech Pvt Ltd, BLR Projects Pvt Ltd and BLR Info Pvt Ltd —were registered in 2014 bet-ween July 9 and 21. The companies had Mr Laxman Rao, his wife Ramadevi and their two sons Venkatesh Santosh and B. Pramod on their board.

After instances of some “fake” claims under IDS emerged from Mumbai and Gujarat, the I-T official here went into overdrive. It is in this context that they raided Mr Laxman Rao’s residence and business units. Besides this, the I-T sleuths raided the residence and offices of a chartered accountant of Mr Laxman Rao, as he, too, had filed Rs 200 crore under IDS.

“Mr Laxman Rao and his CA have urged us to give some time for the first instalment. At this moment, we can’t say this disclosure is not genuine. We are verifying the records,” a tax official said. As per the records available with the RoC, BLR Builders registered address is Yamuna apar-tment in Ramanthapur, but no such office exists.

A retired Doordarshan employee, who owns the flat, said Mr Laxman Rao was a tenant there from 2007 to 2012. “He vacated the flat in February 2012 as he constructed his own house in Filmnagar. It is likely that in 2008, he used our flat address to register his company. We had no contacts with him thereafter. On Tuesday, however, some persons visited our house, asking for the details of Mr Laxman Rao,” he said.

BLR Builders filed all returns for financial year 2009-10 to 2013-14 in one go on March 31, 2014. The other four companies didn’t even file their returns. Mr S.B. Reddy, a CA who audited the reports of BLR Builders and Developers, in 2014 said, “I was not his regular auditor. He came to me in 2014, so I filed the audited report as an NIL report. Later, he incorporated three or four companies the same year, for which, too, he availed my services. Thereafter, I had no contacts with him. He may have engaged some senior auditor.”

In the directors’ report under financial performance column for BLR Builders and Developers, it was written: “The company (has) not yet started (its) commercial operations during the financial year 2013-14.”

A former minister who lives in the same area said, “When I came out of my house, I was told that Income-Tax officials are searching his house,” The residence-cum- registered address is G Plus 2, a building located on a 1,000-square yard plot.