BPU flags benami land deals worth ₹2,002 crore in Hyderabad
HYDERABAD: The Income Tax Department’s Benami Prohibition Unit (BPU), Hyderabad, has issued 17 provisional attachment orders covering about 282 acres of land in Koheda and Omer Khan Daira villages of Abdullapurmet mandal on the city’s outskirts, pegging the total value of the properties at ₹2,002 crore.
The unit found the land transactions to be prima facie benami in nature, identifying Incor Realty Projects as the benamidar, while former Sanghi Industries Ltd promoter Ravi Sanghi and his family were named as the beneficial owners.
According to the attachment orders, the land originally belonged to Sanghi Industries Ltd, a listed company, and was sold through a structured arrangement involving Incor Realty and Venkateshwara Realty. The BPU alleged that the transactions were designed to conceal the true beneficial ownership and bypass regulatory scrutiny mandated under Securities and Exchange Board of India norms.
Undervaluation to avoid approvals
The probe revealed that Ravi Sanghi and his family allegedly undervalued the “non-core” land assets to keep the transaction below regulatory thresholds that would have required audit committee approval and consent of non-promoter shareholders. Under SEBI regulations, related-party transactions require prior approvals, which the BPU said were deliberately avoided.
The attachment orders stated: “The case involves a premeditated conspiracy by the erstwhile promoters of Sanghi Industries Ltd to siphon off valuable corporate land assets into a private firm controlled by them, just prior to the company being acquired by another company.”
The probe identified Venkateshwara Realty, a partnership firm controlled by Ravi Sanghi and his family, as the prima facie beneficial owner of the land.
Funds routed through multiple entities
To hold and manage the family’s investments, two private trusts — Venkateshwara Investments Trust and Venkateshwara Ventures Trust — were created. Veptor Projects Pvt Ltd, a sister concern of Incor Realty, was later awarded a joint development agreement to develop the attached lands.
The BPU noted that Sanghi Industries Ltd had disclosed to SEBI that the surplus land was being sold to a non-related party, while it ultimately ended up with a related entity.
Sanghi Industries Ltd registered the sale of around 282 acres to Incor Realty for about ₹84 crore, deliberately keeping the consideration below 10% of the company’s turnover of ₹192.8 crore to avoid triggering mandatory approvals. The BPU found that Incor acted only as a conduit and did not fund the purchase from its own resources.
After the Sanghi family received proceeds from the sale of their shares following the acquisition of Sanghi Industries Ltd, they allegedly channelled ₹245 crore into Venkateshwara Realty as capital. Venkateshwara Realty then paid Incor, which, on December 8, 2023, transferred the funds to Sanghi Industries Ltd on the same day.
After the promoters exited the company’s management, rectification deeds were executed revising the declared land value from ₹84 crore to ₹218 crore, the BPU said.
