HYDERABAD: Animal Husbandry Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav is now on the radar of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for possible violations of Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) in casino operator Chikoti Praveen Kumar’s case.
ED officials have already grilled his cousins Mahesh and Dharmender on the financial transactions they had with Chikoti Praveen Kumar and his partner Madhava Reddy. On Monday, the agency interrogated Srinivas Yadav’s PA V Harish.
The two instances indicate that next in line for grilling by the ED would be the minister himself. Based on the answers they gave to the ED officials, the latter might want to question the minister himself. According to sources, the minister had visited Nepal besides being close to Chikoti Praveen. The ED also has pictures in which they were seen together at public functions.
Unexplained transactions
The enforcement agency suspects that there were unexplained financial transactions between Harish and Madhava Reddy. The latter has already been grilled by the sleuths of the ED. After going through the bank statements of over five years, the sleuths questioned Harish as to what was the purpose of the transactions between them.
Officials suspect that Harish made some remittances to Madhava Reddy who in turn issued some tokens to him which were used at a casino in Nepal in exchange for money. The agency alleged that the token system was used only to move the money across the border, bypassing FEMA regulations.
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A Butchi Reddy, who is a five per cent shareholder in the casino racket, appeared before the ED on Monday. He told the media that the ED officials had asked him to produce the last six years of bank transactions in connection with gambling in casinos in Nepal.
Sources said they came to know that flight tickets had been bought for Nepal by the close relatives of minister Talasani. The sources also stated that they along with several other important people who visited Nepal gambled in casinos and would be summoned for grilling.
Srinivas Yadav, speaking to the TNIE, said that the agencies were targeting anti-BJP leaders only to harass them. He said that he has not received any notice till now and was ready to cooperate with the ED if they ask him to present himself before them. The minister also said that he did not commit any financial irregularity or break any law.