ED attaches Rs 441-cr worth assets in Andhra Pradesh liquor 'scam' case

The Enforcement Directorate on Friday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 441 crore of various accused involved in the Andhra Pradesh liquor scam case which allegedly took place during the previous YSRCP regime in the stateThe attached properties consist of bank balances fixed deposits land parcels and other immovable assets belonging to the prime accused Kessireddy Rajasekhara Reddy his family members and related entities other accused like Booneti Chanakya and his related entities and relatives and entities of Donthireddy Vasudeva Reddy apart from some othersThe ED said in a statement that after the 2019 assembly elections the newlyformed state government led by former chief minister and YSRCP leader Jagan Mohan Reddy monopolised retail liquor outlets through government retail outlets GROs operated by the Andhra Pradesh State Beverages Corporation Limited APSBCLIt alleged that as part of a criminal conspiracy the automated system was deliberately disabled and replaced with a manual system thereby vesting unfettered discretionary power with APSBCL officials in issuing orders for supply OFSThe ED claimed that the manual OFS regime was misused to discriminate against established liquor brands which were deliberately marginalised or removed from the marketThe YSRCP has always maintained that all such allegations were baselessThe federal probe agency registered a PMLA case in September 2025 to investigate the alleged scam taking cognisance of an Andhra Pradesh Police SIT complaintThe ED said Kessireddy Rajasekhara Reddy alongwith other members of the liquor syndicate orchestrated a multicrore scam for liquor procurement and distribution in Andhra Pradesh and this primarily involved controlling and manipulating the procurement process of APSBCLThe proceeds of crime generated from this scam were laundered and distributed among the syndicate members for personal enrichment K Rajasekhara Reddy in collusion with Booneti Chanakya Muppidi Avinash Reddy Tukekula Eswar Kiran Kumar Reddy Paila Dileep Saif Ahmad and others collected kickbacks totaling Rs 3500 crore it claimedThe agency said the accused established andor acquired control over several distilleries which were utilised as Special Purpose Vehicles SPVs to generate proceeds of crime and were granted disproportionately high business volumes by abusing political and administrative influenceAccording to the ED the alleged scam caused the state government a loss of around Rs 3500Rs 4000 croreIt alleged that preferential and irregular allocations were extended to select favoured brands upon receipt of kickbacksAs part of the scheme the syndicate promoted the introduction of similarsounding brands SSBs with artificially inflated basic pricesThis pricing manipulation enabled the distilleries manufacturing such brands to generate surplus margins which were utilised to meet the illegal monetary demands of the cartel the agency saidEDs probe found that another source of illicit revenue generation was the manipulation of liquor transportation contracts awarded through a tender floated by APSBCLIt said a centralised transportation tender was awarded to Sigma Supply Chain Solutions at rates significantly higher than the earlier depotwise transportation costsThe agency said that through manipulation of procurement and supply mechanisms the liquor syndicate generated illegal revenues of about Rs 100 crore per month resulting in wrongful personal enrichment and causing a corresponding loss to the state exchequerThe probe found that physical cash kickbacks were collected and stored at multiple locations in Hyderabad from where designated cash handlers of the syndicate subsequently moved or distributed themA money trail of Rs 104845 crore in bribes has been detected According to the ED several distilleries were compelled to pay this amount in cash gold etc and also by allowing the liquor syndicate to control and operate some distilleriesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever