Andhra Pradesh: ED raids ex-YSRCP MP, linked persons in money laundering

HYDERABAD: The Enforcement Directorate on Saturday raided the premises of former YSRCP MP and Telugu film producer M V V Satyanarayana and some others in Andhra Pradesh as part of a money laundering probe linked to a land grab case, official sources said.

At least five locations in Visakhapatnam, including that of the former MP and an auditor, were being raided by the officials of the federal agency, they said.

The agency officials collected some documents during the raids, according to the sources.

Satyanarayana, a YSRCP MP from 2019 to 2024, unsuccessfully contested the Andhra Pradesh Assembly polls earlier this year from Visakhapatnam East seat. He has produced a number of Telugu films.

The money laundering case stems from a Visakhapatnam police FIR filed against Satyanarayana and others on June 22 for allegedly grabbing government land meant for building a residential facility for senior citizens and orphans.

The complainant in the police case is Ch Jagadeeswarudu who said he and his wife were promoters of Haigreeva Infratech Projects Ltd., a company which was registered in April 2006.

He said they were given 12.51 cents of land in Yendada village by the Andhra Pradesh government in 2008 to build homes for senior citizens and orphans.

Jagadeeswarudu told police that he engaged an auditor named G Venkateswara Rao, who in turn introduced him to Satyanarayana and a man named Gadde Brahmaji for developing the government-mandated project on the said land.

An MoU was signed between them in 2020 but Jagadeeswarudu alleged that his and his wife's signatures were "fabricated" by the accused and they had made them sign blank papers leading to "misappropriation" of the documents.

He told police this was a "criminal conspiracy" to "grab" his land and the accused had "threatened" them with dire consequences. The ED is looking at these allegations and hence the searches are being conducted, the sources said.