BRS MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy joins Congress a month after ED raids in alleged mining scam

Hyderabad: In an intriguing development, BRS MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy, who came under the scanner of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for alleged mining scam, joined Congress on Monday.

The Patancheru MLA joined the grand-old party in the presence of Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy. Mahipal Reddy is the tenth BRS MLA to join Congress in the last few months since the pink party's debacle in the last year assembly polls. Congress' strength in the Telangana assembly has now gone up to 74.

Last month, ED had found that the mining firms linked to Gudem Mahipal Reddy and his brother Madhusudhan Reddy amassed around Rs 300 Crore by illegal granite mining. The sleuths of ED, Hyderabad Zonal Office had conducted search operations last month at 10 locations in and around Hyderabad in a money laundering case being investigated against M/s Santhosh Sand & Granite Supply, Patancheru under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

Searches were conducted at the premises of proprietor of the firm Gudem Madhusudan Reddy, BRS MLA Gudem Mahipal Reddy and others. ED initiated investigation on the basis of FIRs registered by Telangana Police against M/s Santhosh Sand & Granite Supply, a proprietary concern of Gudem Madhusudan Reddy.

The accused firm was found to have excavated and transported excess quantity of 11,98,743 CBM of building stone and road metal within the quarry lease permitted area and 10,11,672 CBM of material beyond the permitted area on encroached government land admeasuring 4.37 hectares.

ED investigation also revealed that proceeds of crime in the form of cash were laundered by the accused and were invested in real estate and other activities.