The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted searches at the residence of Minister Ponguleti Srinivas Reddy in Hyderabad on Friday. Sixteen ED teams from Delhi arrived in the city, launching simultaneous raids at 15 locations linked to the ongoing investigations into customs duty evasion and money laundering. The ED is also probing the connections between Shirdi Sai Electricals and Raghava Constructions, along with scrutiny over fake guarantees obtained from Euro Exim Bank.
These raids come after earlier searches conducted at Ponguleti’s Khammam residence during the Telangana Assembly elections, sparking discussions in political circles. Detailed information regarding the current raids is awaited.
The raids are also linked to an ongoing investigation into a luxury watch smuggling case involving the minister’s son, Harsha Reddy. Customs officials recently searched Harsha Reddy’s residence following his involvement in a case where watches worth ₹1.7 crore were smuggled into India. On February 5, Customs officials seized two high-end watches at Chennai Airport, identified as a Patek Philippe 5740 and a Breguet 2759.
Preliminary investigations revealed that Mohammed Fahedeen Mubeen brought the watches from Hong Kong via Singapore. With no authorized dealers for Patek Philippe and Breguet watches in India, customs officials grew suspicious, leading to further inquiry. Mubeen confessed that the watches were intended for a man named Naveen Kumar, who later named Harsha Reddy as the intended recipient.
Officials suspect that Naveen Kumar acted as a middleman to procure the watches for Harsha Reddy, with transactions suspected to be made through hawala channels. The ED’s recent raids are part of ongoing efforts to uncover deeper links and financial irregularities in the case.