The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday approved the attachment of properties belonging to former MLA and senior YSR Congress party leader Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy in connection with the alleged liquor scam that took place during the previous regime.
The decision follows the final report and recommendations submitted by the Special Investigation Team (SIT), which has accused Chevireddy and his family members of amassing wealth through illegal commissions and kickbacks linked to the liquor syndicate.
According to the SIT findings, the Chevireddy family accumulated assets worth over Rs 63.72 crore through benami transactions and proceeds from the scam.
However, during registration, these properties were shown with an undervalued figure of only Rs 8.85 crore, allegedly to conceal the actual value.
The SIT officials concluded that the family had intentionally suppressed more than Rs 54.87 crore in property value, converting this amount into black money.
The government has now granted permission to attach the properties registered under the names of Chevireddy Bhaskara Reddy, his sons Chevireddy Mohit Reddy and Chevireddy Harshit Reddy and Chevireddy Lakshmikantamma (alias Lakshmi), MD of KVS Infra.
Registrations under these names were reportedly traced across sub-registrar offices in Chandragiri, Renigunta, Tirupati Rural, Thottambedu, Gudur, Podalakur and Puttur.
The SIT asserted that the Chevireddy family used their political influence to execute large-scale fraudulent land transactions.
One such transaction involved KVS Infra’s purchase and sale of 263.28 acres to Aurobindo Pharma at Vendodu.
Investigators found evidence of artificial escalation of land value to launder black money into white. Through such deals alone, KVS Infra is alleged to have converted Rs 13.3 crore of black money into legitimate assets, the SIT alleged.
The SIT sought permission to proceed under various provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Criminal Law Amendment Ordinance.
Acting on the request, the state government has authorised the filing of an application in the Vijayawada court for attaching the identified properties.
DGP has been directed to initiate further proceedings, and orders to this effect were issued by Home Department Special Chief Secretary Kumar Vishwajeet.
