It looks like time is up for the two big corporate college chains – Narayana and Chaitanya, which have been virtually ruling the education sector in the Telugu states for the last two decades.
The two groups, promoted by big Kamma leaders, have been under tremendous pressure in both the Telugu states in the last one year.
A spate of suicides in their colleges and allegations of large scale irregularities in claiming top ranks in medical and engineering entrances have brought them under scanner.
On Wednesday, the Income Tax authorities conducted lightning raids on these two corporate colleges in Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Guntur, Nellore and other prominent cities in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
Searches were conducted in the headquarters of Narayana College at Benz Circle in Vijayawada, apart from the offices of its various colleges.
Special teams of I-T department from Delhi have also conducted raids in Sri Chaitanya College at Madhapur in Hyderabad.
As many as 10 teams swooped on the colleges and seized all the records including computers and questioned the staff.
The authorities have also been conducting searches in the residences of directors and top management officials of both Narayana and Chaitanya colleges. The official information is yet to be disclosed.
Last week, the Telangana government issued notices to these two groups stating that more than 35 colleges are going to be wound up this year, because of fraudulent practices.
The Jagan Mohan Reddy government in Andhra Pradesh, too, has started acting on the erring colleges of Narayana and Chaitanya.
Now with the Income Tax searches expected to dig out the malpractices, it’s going to be a tough time for these two groups!