Patancheru MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy joins Congress; 10th MLA to leave BRS

Hyderabad: Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) Patancheru MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy joined the Congress party in the presence of chief minister A Revanth Reddy here on Monday.

He is the 10th BRS MLA to cross over to Congress, taking the total number of Congress MLAs to 74. To recall, Mahipal Reddy’s firm and brother were recently raided by ED in a mining case.

Along with Mahipal Reddy, Gali Anil Kumar and a few corporators also joined the Congress party.

The duo were welcomed into the party by CM Revanth Reddy, ministers Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy and Damodara Rajanarasimha, former MLA Jagga Reddy, leaders Neelam Madhu and Sasikala Yadav.

ED raids against Mahipal Reddy’s brother Madhusudan Reddy

Recently, the sleuths of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) have concluded that Gudem Mahipal Reddy’s brother Madhusudhan Reddy has indulged in money laundering, mostly in the form of cash, by investing in real estate and other activities.

They have also determined that the quantum of the scam committed stood at Rs 300 crores. This comes after the raids carried out by the ED across 10 locations on Thursday (June 20).

Search operations led to the seizure of unaccounted cash of Rs 19 lakhs along with a large number of property documents in the names of unrelated persons suspected to be benamis of the accused persons.

Mobile phones containing evidence related to cash dealings were also seized. Bank locker keys were also recovered and examination of the bank lockers is expected to reveal further incriminating evidence.

The ED investigation revealed that sale proceeds of illegally excavated material were deliberately not reported in banking transactions and books of accounts and that the transactions were suspected to have been carried out in cash.

The searches were conducted at the premises of the proprietor of the firm Gudem Madhusudan Reddy, BRS MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy and others.

The ED initiated an investigation on the basis of FIRs registered by the Telangana Police against Santhosh Sand and Granite Supply, a proprietary concern of Gudem Madhusudan Reddy. The accused firm was found to have excavated and transported an excess quantity of 11,98,743 CBM of building stone and road metal within the quarry lease permitted area and 10,11,672 CBM of material beyond the permitted area (on encroached Government land admeasuring 4.37 Ha).

In the process, the accused illegally amassed around Rs 300 crores by the sale of illegally excavated material and also evaded a royalty amount of Rs 39.08 crores due to the government.