In a surprise move, the Income Tax officials on Tuesday conducted searches in the house of YSR Congress leader Devineni Avinash in Vijayawada. The IT officials reached the house early in the morning and conducted searches in his house located in Gunadala.

On learning about the IT raids, hundreds of Devineni followers reached the house and held a protest against the raids. They raised slogans in support of Avinash and his family. They also condemned the IT raids on their leader’s house.

With a large gathering outside Avinash’s house, vehicular traffic on the Eluru Road came to a standstill for several hours. The traffic police reached the place and cleared the vehicular movement.

The IT raids are said to be connected to the property deals by the Devineni family in Jubilee Hills area in Hyderabad. The family is connected with the land even when former minister Devineni Rajasekhar Nehru was alive. The issue was said to be resolved when late Dr Y S Rajasekhar Reddy was the chief minister.

Meanwhile, the IT officials also raided the residence and offices of Vamsiram Builders in Hyderabad. Raids were also conducted simultaneously in Vijayawada and Nellore offices of the builders, besides in the houses of its directors across the two Telugu states.

Sources say that about 20 senior officials of the IT department were present during the searches in Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Nellore.