Nayeem Case: IT issues confiscation orders

Bhongir: In the first kind of case by the Income Tax department Benami prohibition unit, final confiscation orders were issued on 10 identified and attached Benami properties of slain gangster Naymeeuddin alias Nayeem.

It is the first case in Telugu states Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, where confiscation orders were issued after the process of attachment, adjudication, and appeal have been completed.

The properties were attached in 2018 and confirmed by adjudicating authority in January 2019. I-T Benami prohibition unit then attached around 45 properties with a document value of Rs 12 crore and a market value of around Rs 150 crore. The I-T department is attached to land, commercial complex, and agricultural plots in the Yadadri-Bhongir district. Nayeem was killed in a shootout in Shadnagar on August 8, 2016.

Police then seized firearms, including 3 AK 47, pistols, revolvers, hand grenades, gelatine sticks, and others from the house where he was hiding out. A special investigation team of Telangana police probed into the crimes involving Nayeem and his gang.

I-T department has attached properties of Nayeem registered in Benami names under the Benami Transactions (Prohibitions) Act. Benamidars include family members and associates.

In March 2019, Rachakonda police detained Nayeem's wife Md Hasina Begum, and co-accused Pasham Srinivas, Abdul Faheem, Abdul Nazer, and T Srinivas on the allegations of selling Benami properties in Bhongir district.

Despite the original documents of the properties being in the SIT's custody, the accused sold the plots using photocopies.

Sources said as the confiscation orders were issued regarding ten properties, the department would take over the possession, and ownership would be vested with the Union government.