Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate was conducting searches on Friday at the premises of Telangana Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy and son P. Harsha Reddy in a case of alleged money laundering.
Simultaneous searches were carried out at the Minister’s residence at Jubilee Hills in Hyderabad, his farmhouse at Himayat Sagar on the city outskirts and other premises related to his son, daughter and other family members.
The searches were also conducted at the premises of a construction firm owned by Harsha Reddy and other places in their home district Khammam.
Sixteen teams were conducting simultaneous searches at the houses, offices and other premises.
The searches were related to a case of money laundering, which has been registered based on a complaint from the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) against Harsha Reddy for allegedly purchasing seven expensive watches worth Rs 7 crore.
Harsha, who is into the construction business, was issued a summons by the Customs Department in connection with the purchase of two luxury watches worth Rs 1.73 crore allegedly smuggled from Hong Kong via Singapore.
The investigation by the Customs Department revealed that these watches were smuggled from Hong Kong via Singapore.
The Customs Department seized these watches from Mohammed Mubeen, an alleged dealer who came to Chennai from Singapore on February 5.
Patek Philipe 5740 and Breguet 2759, estimated to be valued at Rs 1.73 crore were seized from Mubeen.
Harsha Reddy had allegedly purchased these watches through an intermediary Alokam Naveen Kumar, who was interrogated by Customs in March. He allegedly facilitated payments through hawala and cryptocurrency. Harsha Reddy had denied the allegations.
The Income Tax Department had conducted searches at the premises of Srinivasa Reddy before Assembly elections in November last year.
The former MP had joined Congress in July, a few months after he was suspended by the then-ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) for anti-party activities.
Srinivas Reddy, a businessman, was elected to the Assembly from Paleru constituency in Khammam district and became a minister in the Revanth Reddy-led Cabinet.
–IANS