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YSR Congress Party MP, PV Midhun Reddy, was arrested on Saturday, July 19, by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) in the alleged multi-crore liquor scam in Andhra Pradesh.
The SIT, probing the scam that allegedly took place during the previous YSRCP government, arrested Midhun Reddy after questioning him for nearly seven hours at the SIT office in Vijayawada.
Midhun Reddy and several others, including senior YSRCP leaders and bureaucrats, are accused of misusing the state’s liquor policy under the previous YSRCP government to replace popular liquor brands with lesser known brands, in exchange for bribes amounting to Rs 3,200 crore.
YSRCP condemned Midhun Reddy’s arrest, calling it a case of political vendetta by Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
The SIT officials informed Midhun Reddy’s relatives that they had arrested him in the liquor case.
Midhun Reddy, who is a member of Lok Sabha from Rajampet constituency, is also the YSRCP floor leader in Lok Sabha. He is accused number four in the case, registered last year after the TDP-led NDA came to power in the state.
His arrest came a day after the Supreme Court dismissed his anticipatory bail petition. Earlier, the Andhra Pradesh High Court had also dismissed his petition.
The MP is alleged to have played a key role in the excise policy and diverting kickbacks to shell companies.
SIT reportedly found large-scale irregularities and fund misappropriation in the liquor policy implemented during 2019-24.
Midhun Reddy’s arrest came hours after the SIT filed a preliminary chargesheet in the case. The SIT officials filed a 300-page chargesheet in the ACB court along with forensic lab reports.
The court was informed that Rs 62 crore has been seized in the case so far. The SIT also examined 268 witnesses in the case.
The SIT also informed the court that the investigation in the case is at a crucial stage and that it will file another chargesheet in 20 days.
The Crime Investigation Department (CID) initially conducted an investigation into the case last year following a complaint by an official of the Excise Department. Later, the TDP-led NDA government constituted an SIT, headed by NTR District Commissioner of Police SV Rajashekhar Babu, to probe the case.
Investigators reportedly uncovered a kickback network involving nearly Rs 3,200 crore siphoned off over five years.
There are allegations that the YSR Congress Party leaders encouraged a new liquor policy, floated new brands, and received kickbacks from the distillery companies, causing huge losses to the government.
The SIT has already arrested several accused in the case. Those arrested in the case include Raj Kesireddy (alias Kesireddy Rajashekar Reddy), advisor to then chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, K Dhanunjaya Reddy, a retired IAS officer and former secretary to Jagan Mohan Reddy, Krishna Mohan Reddy, former Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, former MLA.
YSRCP leaders and former ministers Botsa Satyanarayana, Perni Venkatramaiah (Nani), Ambati Rambabu, Merugu Nagarjuna, and party general secretary G Srikanth Reddy expressed serious concerns over the misuse of power to target opposition leaders.
The leaders further said that the liquor scam is entirely based on fabricated evidence and forced confessions.
They alleged that between 2014 and 2019, it was Chandrababu Naidu’s government that committed several irregularities in liquor sales. Now, to divert attention from those cases, a false narrative has been built, and arrests are being made based solely on statements taken under pressure, they alleged.