Midhun Reddy is one of primary executors; played instrumental role in liquor scam: Andhra Pradesh CID
The Andhra Pradesh-CID submitted a counter affidavit in the Supreme Court of India in the Special Leave Petition (SLP) filed by Rajampet MP P.V. Midhun Reddy for bail in the matter of liquor scam that allegedly took place in Andhra Pradesh in 2019-24, insisting that he was one of the primary executors and played an instrumental role in planning and directing the entire operation that accrued a wrongful gain of at least ₹3,500 crore to the manufacturers identified so far and the accused including Mr. Reddy.
CID Additional SP R. Srihari Babu stated in the affidavit that the persons including Mr. Midhun Reddy have, with the complicity of some officials, brought in the impugned new liquor/excise policy and ensured that orders for the purchase of liquor were placed by the government on distilleries/manufacturers who were providing kickbacks through a number of complex financial transactions, which resulted in immense loss to the public exchequer and wrongful gain to the accused.
It was found in the further investigation carried out after the recent dismissal of Mr. Midhun Reddy's anticipatory bail plea by the High Court that there was new material which showed him as not only a primary planner/executor but also that a money trail was traceable from at least one of the liquor manufacturers to a company to which the MP's family members and associates have demonstrable links.
The CID officer mentioned that the scam was perpetrated by posting officials in key positions to do the bidding of the accused, and changing the entire policy to facilitate control of the entire process of liquor trade by the accused and officials who were taking instructions from the key conspirators including Mr. Midhun Reddy.
Basically, automation was done away with and it was replaced by manual systems which concealed the liquor demand orders and helped in placing the purchase orders with selected manufacturers and distilleries which were either set up or became suddenly active in 2019-20 and were working on a kickback system that drove out well-known Indian liquor brands out of business.
The selected manufacturers would supply liquor at inflated prices and give kickbacks, a large portion of it in the form of cash and gold bullion, to the accused in power including Mr. Midhun Reddy. 'Investigation is under way to unravel the multi-layered financial transactions thereby unearthing the whole list of beneficiaries of the scandal, for which Mr. Midhun Reddy's custodial interrogation is required,' the CID officer added.
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