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Amid the ongoing investigation into the alleged Rs 3,500 liquor scam in Andhra Pradesh, a video of huge piles of cash worth crores allegedly retrieved from the phone of one of the accused by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) has surfaced.
The video was allegedly found on the phone of Cherukuri Venkatesh Naidu who is accused number 34 in the case. Venkatesh is accused of working for senior YSRCP leader Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, allegedly helping transfer crores of cash received as kickbacks from liquor companies, to distribute to voters ahead of the 2024 Assembly elections.
The video seemingly shows a few men standing around several bundles of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes. The date of the video is yet to be ascertained.
According to the SIT, crores of rupees in bribes collected from liquor companies in exchange for supply orders from the Andhra Pradesh government eventually went into former Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s hands.
This money was allegedly distributed to voters during the 2024 Assembly and general elections in Andhra Pradesh, as bribes to vote for YSRCP, the SIT said in its preliminary chargesheet filed on July 19.
The main accused in the case is Kessireddy Raja Shekhar Reddy (Raj), former IT advisor to Jagan when he was CM. Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy is accused of helping Raj move Rs 250 to 300 crore in cash towards election expenses.
Bhaskar Reddy is the former chairman of Tirupati Urban Development Authority (TUDA) and former Chandragiri MLA. In 2024, when his son Chevireddy Mohit Reddy was the chairman of TUDA and contesting from Chandragiri on a YSRCP ticket, his official TUDA vehicle, a Toyota Fortuner, was allegedly used to transport cash from Hyderabad to Vijayawada and Tirupati.
The chargesheet mentioned that Bhaskar Reddy had cash transported from various places on around 13 occasions between March and May 2024, in the weeks before the 2024 Assembly elections.
On each of these occasions, cash worth Rs 8 to 9 crore was handed over by Raj, Venkatesh Naidu and two other accused, Booneti Chanakya and Paila Dileep, according to the chargesheet.
On April 27 and 28, Bhaskar Reddy’s personal assistant Eddala Naveen Krishna, his driver Harish, and another associate, Giri Babu, allegedly visited Venkatesh Naidu’s residence in Banjara Hills, Hyderabad, where they collected cardboard boxes containing cash.
“Subsequently, the said cash was handed over to the volunteers of the political party to which [Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy] belonged in Ongole. In fact, [Venkatesh Naidu’s] house was regularly used to collect cash in Hyderabad,” the chargesheet stated.
In total, over the six months leading up to the 2024 Assembly elections, Rs 200–250 crore in cash was allegedly handed over by Raj, Chanakya, and Paila Dileep to Venkatesh Naidu on multiple occasions. He, in turn, allegedly passed the cash to Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy for distribution among voters across various constituencies, the SIT said.
The SIT also alleged that the cash consignments from Venkatesh Naidu and others were transported from Hyderabad to Tirupati using TUDA vehicles and occasionally private lorries, bypassing enforcement checks through political influence.
