'Transporting cash': ED raids G Vivekanand’s properties in Hyderabad, Mancheriyal days after he left BJP to join Congress
G Vivekanand is the Congress candidate from the Chennur assembly constituency falling under the Mancheriyal district
By Coreena Suares Published on 21 Nov 2023 4:34 AM GMT
Hyderabad: Days after media baron G Vivekanand switched sides from BJP to Congress, Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths raided his properties in Hyderabad and Mancheriyal.
G Vivekanand is the Congress candidate from the Chennur assembly constituency falling under the Mancheriyal district.
The raids followed allegations that Vivekanand's team was transporting money from Hyderabad to Chennur ahead of the Telangana elections in 2023.
It may be recalled that in early November, the Hyderabad Police froze a sum of Rs 8 crore that was transferred online from a bank account allegedly belonging to building material manufacturer Visaka Industries to a security service provider in the city.
The transaction, which took place in the run-up to the Telangana assembly polls was flagged by the Telangana Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) due to its high value. Visaka Industries and V6 Channel are owned by Vivekanand.
In the last one month, Income tax sleuths raided multiple candidates, especially contesting from the Congress party in Telangana. On November 10, the day of nomination, sleuths raided Paleru Congress Candidate Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy. Following the raids, the candidate and his supporters staged a protest alleging that the raids were to stop him from filing for nomination. The search has been going on at his residence in Khammam since 3 am.
Pertinently, he has recently joined Congress from Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS). Earlier, the Congress candidate had apprehended that the Income Tax Department and Enforcement Directorate might conduct raids. He alleged that during the past several days, the central agencies were focusing their 'searches' on Congress leaders.
"The ruling BRS government in Telangana and BJP colluded in the "attacks" on Congress leaders," he further alleged.
"I request all my followers not to resort to any activity as they (Central agencies) may trouble me and my companies also," Reddy had said.
