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Hyderabad, Nov 24 (IANS) The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday said it has attached assets worth Rs 80 crore of Santosh Sand and Granite Supply, brother of Telangana MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy, in an illegal mining case.
The Hyderabad zonal office of the ED has said that it has provisionally attached several immovable and movable properties worth Rs 80.05 crore under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002 in connection with the ongoing investigation in a case related to illegal mining by Santosh Sand and Granite Supply.
The central agency had initiated the investigation on the basis of an FIR lodged by the Patancheru police in Telangana, alleging that Gudem Madhusudan Reddy, owner of Santosh Sand and Granite Supply, and others had defrauded the state government by carrying out excess mining in the designated mine area and illegal mining in unassigned government land, causing huge revenue loss of Rs 39.08 crore as royalty payable to the government and wrongfully enriching themselves. Rs 300 crore from illegal mining done by him.
During the investigation, searches were conducted by the ED which, inter alia, resulted in the seizure of several original property documents from the possession of Gudem Madhusudan Reddy.
Further investigation revealed that though these properties were in the names of different persons, the beneficial owner of these properties is Gudem Madhusudan Reddy.
The ED said investigation into the alleged owners of these properties revealed that these were benami properties of Gudem Madhusudan Reddy.
It was further stated that the mining license was given by the State Government to Santosh Sand and Granite Supply and they, in turn, gave the contract to GVR Enterprises, a partnership firm of Gudem Madhusudan Reddy and G Vikram Reddy.
This sub-contract was not permitted in terms of the lease and further no permission was obtained from the State Government.
The ED investigation also said that the illegally mined products were mainly sold in cash and the proceeds of crime (POC) thus generated were invested in properties, mostly in the name of benami properties.
Accordingly, 81 such properties worth Rs 78.93 crore have been provisionally attached during the investigation.
“Some amount was also payable to GVR Enterprises from the purchasers of illegally mined material and these amounts also represent POCs and accordingly fixed deposits of Rs 1.12 crore have also been attached in the name of these entities. Further investigation is underway,” the central agency said.
Gudem Madhusudan Reddy is the brother of Gudem Mahipal Reddy, MLA from Patancheru constituency in Sangareddy district.
The ED had interrogated the two brothers in July last year after raiding seven places linked to them.
In 2023, Mahipal Reddy was elected to the Assembly for the third consecutive time on Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) ticket.
Mahipal Reddy is one of the 10 BRS MLAs who switched allegiance to the Congress last year and are currently facing disqualification proceedings.
–IANS
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