The Enforcement Directorate, Hyderabad, which conducted raids in various places across the country on Thursday in connection with the liquor scam that allegedly took place during the previous YSR Congress party regime in Andhra Pradesh, appears to have found virtually pittance.
According to an official statement from the ED, search operations were conducted at 20 locations in Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Thanjavur, Surat, Raipur, Delhi NCR and Andhra Pradesh under PMLA, 2002 in connection with Andhra Pradesh liquor scam.
“Searches were conducted at the premises of entities/individuals who facilitated payment of kickbacks through bogus/inflated transactions. During the search operations, unaccounted cash of Rs 38 Lakh, besides various incriminating documents and digital evidences have been recovered and seized,” it said.
Though the ED statement did not reveal on whose properties the raids were conducted, but it is learnt the agency focused especially on the properties of the key accused, Raj Kasireddy.
The SIT earlier found that Kasireddy had diverted kickbacks from liquor dealings into shell companies to convert black money into white.
It is learned that SIT had handed over detailed information to ED officials three days ago. The ED is now scrutinizing financial transactions across 23 shell companies.
It is also examining the properties and firms of the accused listed in the SIT chargesheet, along with details of Rs 11 crore cash earlier seized by SIT in Hyderabad.
