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ED to probe money laundering in Andhra liquor scam, SIT issues notices to top officials close to Jagan
ED has initiated a probe into a ₹3,200-crore liquor scam during the YSR Congress government, naming 33 accused, including top officials.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a money laundering case to investigate an alleged ₹3,200-crore liquor scam that took place during the YSR Congress Party government’s tenure in Andhra Pradesh, even as the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the state police, which is probing the case, issued notices on Friday to the top officials associated with the chief minister’s office (CMO) in the previous regime, people familiar with the matter said.
A senior official in the state police department said that ED formally registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) on May 6, initiating a detailed probe into the suspected money laundering in the liquor scam and named 33 people as accused in the case.
The ECIR named Raj Kesireddy, former information technology advisor to the Jagan Mohan Reddy government, as the prime accused who allegedly played a central role in the scam. Other key names included YSRCP MP Peddireddy Mithun Reddy, former party general secretary V Vijayasai Reddy, retired IAS officer K Dhanunjaya Reddy, who served as secretary in the CMO, Jagan’s officer on special duty (OSD) P Krishna Mohan Reddy, full-time director of Bharathi Cements Govindappa Balaji, former AP State Beverages Corporation Ltd managing director D Vasudeva Reddy, APSBCL special officer Satya Prasad, and former director of SPY Agro Industries Sajjala Sridhar Reddy.
In a letter written to SIT chief SP Rajasekhar Babu on May 6, which was seen by HT, the federal agency made it clear that it was conducting the investigation under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in the alleged liquor scam, as per the FIR registered by the state police on September 23, 2024.
ED told the SIT chief that for the purpose of PMLA investigation, it required information regarding the alleged scam and documents, including the certified copy of the FIR, registered by the Economic Offences wing of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), details of all bank accounts and properties identified so far, details of accused arrested in the case and remand report presented before the court and copy of the charge sheet filed, if any.
“The SIT has provided the requested information to ED on Thursday and the central agency will use them to dig into the money laundering trails and asset tracking,” the official quoted above said, adding that the ED officials will soon issue summons to all the accused for questioning.
Meanwhile, the SIT authorities on Friday visited the residences and offices of P Krishna Mohan Reddy, Dhanunjaya Reddy, and Balaji Govindappa in Hyderabad to serve notices. “They have been asked to appear at the SIT office in Vijayawada on May 11 at 10am for questioning,” the official said.
Dhanunjay Reddy and Krishna Mohan Reddy, along with Raj Kesireddy, Mithun Reddy and Vijayasai Reddy, were allegedly involved in planning policies conducive to collecting bribes and managing the bribe collection network, as per the remand report submitted by SIT in court, during the arrest of Raj Kesireddy on April 23.
TDP member of Parliament Kesineni Shivanath had on Thursday requested the Central Bureau of Investigation to take over the ongoing investigation into the liquor scam in light of growing public outrage and demanded transparency over how such a massive scam involving state resources and public health went unchecked.
