Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday raided the houses of Bharat Rashtra Samithi's (BRS) Patancheru MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy and his brother, Gudem Madhusudan Reddy, in connection with a money laundering case linked to Rs 300-crore alleged illegal mining in Telangana.
The raid was launched at around 5 am at the MLA's house on Rammandir Road in Patancheru and in Srinagar Colony where his brother resides. During which, the mobile phones of the MLA and his family members were seized and the raid continued for many hours.
When the MLA's followers came to know about the raid, they tried to enter the house but were stopped by the CRPF personnel. Some key documents were seized by the ED team. After completing the search operation, the investigators took Madhusudan Reddy to his family's GMR function hall at around 7 pm and interrogated him.
These raids are being conducted in connection with embezzlement of Rs 300 crore by Madhusudan Reddy-owned firm, Santosh Sand and Granite Supply Company, through illegal mining. A team also searched the quarry.
It has been learnt that the firm took permission for the gravel quarry in Survey No. 738 of Patancheru Mandal Lakdaram. The Department of Underground Mines had granted permission to operate a quarry in an area of 4.23 hectares from 2012 to 2027.
However, Madhusudan Reddy collected and sold gravel not only in the leased area but also in the adjacent area. Infact, the firm allegedly occupied another 4.37 hectares of land, where mining was being carried out.
It has also been revealed that excavations were carried out without obtaining requisite environmental clearances from the State-Level Environmental Impact Assessment Authority (SEIAA). After the matter came to light, the authorities ordered the closure of the quarry on March 10. However, Madhusudan Reddy ignored the orders and continued with the mining operations.
Officials said Madhusudan Reddy illegally collected 11,93,743 cubic meters of gravel beyond the permitted limit in the leased area. For which, a royalty of Rs 21.10 crore needs to be paid to the government. It was concluded that the value of aggregate in the open market is Rs 163.03 crores. Nearly 10,11,763 cubic meters of gravel were collected in the occupied space and a royalty of Rs.17.89 crores has to be paid to the government. The value of this gravel in the open market was revealed to be Rs 137.60 crores.
Investigations revealed that Madhusudan Reddy acquired assets of around Rs 300 crores through illegal mining. Earlier, Madhusudan Reddy was arrested based on a complaint filed by Patancheru Tehsildar regarding encroachment of government land and recently on bail later.
After the ED raid, MLA Mahipal Reddy said, "Centre and the state government are harassing all Opposition leaders. Political pressures are common and we have seen many such things in the past. We don't compromise under pressure. We have fully cooperated with the ED investigation and submitted all the required documents. Neither money nor gold was found here."
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