Mekapati family under ED scanner!

[Anta Assamey]

The Enforcement Directorate officials have booked a case against Hyderabad-based constructions company – Krishna Mohan Constructions (KMC) for alleged embezzlement of funds belonging to National Highway Authorities of India.

The KMC is owned by late YSR Congress party former minister Mekapati Gautam Reddy’s family of Nellore and is presently headed by his brother Mekapati Vikram Reddy, Atmakur MLA of YSRCP.

The company's directors are Pruthvi Kumar Reddy Mekapati, Shujaat Ghousuddin Khan, Mekapati Sri Kirti and Amudala Sreeramulu Nageswar Rao.

The ED on October 16 raided the offices of Bharat Road Network Limited (BRNL) and Guruvayoor Infrastructure Private Limited (GIPL) in Kolkata, KMC Ltd in Hyderabad and GIPL office in Thrissur in the case of embezzlement of funds of NHAI.

The ED was acting on the FIR registered by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) under various sections of IPC, 1860 and the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 against Guruvayoor Infrastructure Pvt Ltd (GIPL) and others.

The CBI alleged that the company and it’s then director Vikram Reddy entered into a criminal conspiracy with unknown officials of NHAI, Palakkad, to execute work related to two sections of National Highway 47, during from 2006 to 2016 and thereby cheated NHAI to the tune of about Rs 102.44 Crore.

The ED investigation revealed that GIPL and sub-contractor KMC Constructions, with the help of NHAI officials and the project’s independent engineer fraudulently obtained the completion certificate of the road project and started collecting toll from the public.

Before registering the case against Mekapati family under Prevention of Money Laundering Act, the ED authoriteis conducted raids on the offices of KMC in Hyderabad and seized certain documents. Notices would soon be issued to the company shortly, sources said.