HYDERABAD: The Income Tax Department’s Benami Prohibition Unit (BPU) in Hyderabad has issued 17 provisional attachment orders related to a 282-acre land parcel in Koheda and Omer Khan Daira villages, near Abdullapurmet, valuing the properties at ₹2,002 crore.
These land transactions were preliminarily identified as benami, with Incor Realty Projects acting as the benamidar and former Sanghi Industries Ltd promoter, Ravi Sanghi, along with his family, named as the beneficial owners.
According to the orders, the land originally belonged to the now-defunct Sanghi Industries Ltd (SIL) and was sold through a structured arrangement involving Incor Realty and Venkateshwara Realty. The BPU alleges that these transactions were intentionally designed to mask the true ownership of the land and evade regulatory scrutiny under SEBI norms.
BPU’s Allegations
The investigation claims that Ravi Sanghi and his family purposely undervalued the non-core land assets so that the transaction remained below regulatory thresholds that would require audit committee approval and consent from non-promoter shareholders. Under SEBI regulations, related-party transactions necessitate prior approvals, which the BPU contends were intentionally circumvented. This structure is alleged to have been created to “defraud minority shareholders” by misrepresenting buyer identities.
As stated in the attachment orders, “The case involves a premeditated conspiracy by the former promoters of SIL to siphon off valuable corporate land assets into a privately controlled firm, just before the company’s acquisition by another entity.” The investigation pointed to Venkateshwara Realty, a partnership firm managed by Ravi Sanghi and his family, as the primary beneficial owner of the land.
To oversee the family’s investments, they established two private trusts — Venkateshwara Investments Trust (VIT) and Venkateshwara Ventures Trust (VVT). Subsequently, Veptor Projects Pvt Ltd (VPPL), a sister company of Incor Realty, received a joint development agreement to develop the attached lands. Notably, SIL informed SEBI that the surplus land was being sold to an unrelated party, even though it ultimately went to a related entity.
Undervaluation
SIL initially recorded a sale of approximately 282 acres to Incor Realty for around ₹84 crore, intentionally keeping the consideration below 10% of the company’s turnover (₹92.8 crore) to avoid mandatory approvals. The BPU found that Incor acted merely as a conduit and did not finance the purchase from its own funds.
After the Sanghi family received the proceeds from their share sale following SIL’s acquisition, they allegedly directed ₹245 crore into Venkateshwara Realty for capital. Venkateshwara Realty then paid Incor, which, on the same day — December 8, 2023 — transferred funds back to SIL. Following the Sanghi family’s exit from SIL’s management, rectification deeds were executed, increasing the declared land value from ₹84 crore to ₹218 crore.
The investigation also unveiled allegedly altered photographs and back-dated valuation reports, dated 2023 but prepared in 2024, utilized to rationalize the revised valuations.
Classification as a Benami Transaction
The BPU concluded that the arrangement meets the criteria of a benami transaction according to Section 2(9)(A) of the Prohibition of Benami Property Transactions Act, 1988. Although the title was in Incor’s name, the purchase consideration originated from Venkateshwara Realty, which is controlled by the Sanghi family.
Evidence, including WhatsApp messages and bank records, allegedly demonstrates that Incor only made payments to SIL after receiving funds from the Sanghi-controlled entity, thereby fulfilling all elements of a benami transaction.
