Vigilance and enforcement officials along with revenue and police personnel conducted flash raids on various godowns storing Bengal gram illegally and seized nearly `21 cr worth of Bengal gram here on Friday.
The raids were conducted on godowns located at Guntakal, Uravakonda, Belugappa and Tadipatri areas.
The officials first raided a godown in Vajrakaroor mandal, belonging to a family member of CPI district secretary D Jagadish and seized `7 cr worth of Bengal gram which was stocked in nearly 35,600 bags.
The sleuths also raided another godown belonging to relatives of former minister SV Subba Reddy from Kurnool, located on Guntakal-Bellary road and seized nearly 70,000 Bengal gram packets worth a total of `14 crore.
The vigilance officials confirmed that all the bags were stored in benami names and godown owners were making money by transporting the gram to Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Officials reportedly seized a warehouse belonging to Urvakonda TDP MLA Payyaulu Keshav near Uravakonda town and seized cereals worth more than `8 cr, but officials are yet to confirm it. Many MLAs of the district have a hand in the illegal storage of cereals.