ED Raids Ponguleti’s House

Hyderabad: Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials, who arrived from New Delhi on Friday, conducted raids on the residences of revenue minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and his family members at five locations here in connection with alleged hawala transactions done by his son Harsha Reddy. It was reported that the ED officials seized some cash from the residence of Harsha Reddy and other places.

Sources said Harsha Reddy, promoter of Raghav Constructions, allegedly purchased watches worth crores of rupees by paying in cryptocurrency and cash and reportedly evaded customs duty. The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) registered cases on these transactions and initiated a probe. Based on the FIRs, the ED, New Delhi, launched an investigation into the money-laundering aspect of the cases.

Though there was no official confirmation, It was also speculated that these raids were connected to a case filed by the income-tax department, which had conducted raids on Srinivas Reddy's residence in Khammam and other places during the Assembly elections.

The teams conducted raids at Narsingi, Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills, Nandagiri Hills and Madhapur.

TPCC chief B. Mahesh Kumar Goud condemned the raids and said it was a deliberate act by the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre with the assistance of the BRS. Speaking to mediapersons at the Gandhi Bhavan on Friday, Goud alleged that the ED had been conducting raids on opposition parties since 2014 on deliberate and politically motivated charges.

"We have faith in the Constitution and will fight legally against the ED raids. The Congress-run government in Telangana will also intensify the HYDRAA activities in the near future to protect government lands. We dared the BRS MLA T. Harish Rao to discuss the welfare policies implemented by the Congress government in nine months and the BRS regime in ten years in Telangana," Goud said.