IT Raids On Hyderabad Biryani Joints: What’s Up?

Hyderabad is largely famous for its biryani culture, and we have several legendary and iconic biryani joints across the city. Now the latest development are suggesting that these biryani joints at the radar of the IT department.

The Income Tax Investigation Wing, Hyderabad Unit, on Tuesday carried out searches across three of the city’s most popular biryani restaurant chains on suspicion of large-scale tax evasion involving sales worth several crores of rupees. Teams searched the offices and residences linked to Pista House, Shah Ghouse and the Mehfil Group of Restaurants.

Searches are being carried at 30 locations.

According to officials, the operations covered multiple locations associated with all three brands. Mehfil, which began operations in 2006, now runs 15 branches across Hyderabad and also has a presence in the United Arab Emirates.

Searches were also conducted at Shah Ghouse, which operates from multiple locations including Gachibowli and the Old City. Officials indicated that the restaurant has a significant footprint on major food-aggregator platforms as well.

The investigation teams examined financial records, branch-wise transactions and other documents as part of the suspected tax-evasion probe.

With the IT department, doing such coordinated rides on these biryani joints and interesting scenario is coming up as people are wondering what could be the consequences of the same.