HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday began searches at the residences of Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, his relatives, as well as the MD and directors of Raghava Constructions located in Jubilee Hills, Banjara Hills and Himayatsagar. Sources aware of the matter said that the minister is not a director of any company under the ED’s lens. They also said that the searches have nothing to do with the minister.
Moreover, the minister was not at his residence when the searches began. Sources said that the ED registered an ECIR against P Harsha Reddy, the son of the minister, following a tip-off that he paid Rs 5 crore through cryptocurrency and hawala routes to purchase seven wristwatches. The Customs department had earlier summoned Harsha Reddy in connection with these wristwatches, as it suspects they were smuggled into India.
The ED suspects that the Rs 5 crore paid by Harsha Reddy to purchase the seven wristwatches through cryptocurrency and hawala routes is just the tip of the iceberg. The ED suspects that hundreds of crores changed hands in the smuggling racket. Sources revealed that the ED believes Harsha Reddy acquired the watches from Hong Kong-based Indian luxury watch dealer Muhammed Faherdeen Mubeen through Alokam Naveen Kumar, an intermediary who confessed to facilitating the sale through cryptocurrency and hawala transactions.
Sources said that Harsha Reddy has been identified as the buyer of the watches through Naveen Kumar. Meanwhile,.
