The Special Investigation Team formed to investigate the multi core liquor scam that took place in the last five years during YS Jagan Mohan Reddy’s tenure as Chief Minister in Andhra Pradesh appears to have intensified its efforts to unearth the irregularities committed by several high profile leaders of YSR Congress party.

On Tuesday, former Chandragiri MLA and Jagan’s close aide Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy was detained by immigration authorities at Bengaluru airport when he was allegedly trying to flee Srilanka to avoid arrest by SIT. The detention followed a lookout notice issued by the special investigation team probing the alleged scam on the directions of the current dispensation led by NDA government.

The investigation team has named several people as accused in connection with this scam and Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy was labelled as Accused No 38. Reports suggest that Chevireddy was intercepted by the immigration team when he was trying to leave for Colombo from Bengaluru. Later in the night, SIT authorities arrested Chevireddy and took him into custody.

Preliminary investigation revealed that Chevireddy played an instrumental role in diverting the defrauded amount earned through sale of liquor for election campaign of YSR Congress party. The SIT investigation found that Chevireddy was actively involved in illicit transfer of money to collection points from liquor distilleries and manufacturing companies six months before the 2024 general elections.

Allegedly, around 250 – 300 Crores were transferred to liquor scam kingpin and YS Bharathi Reddy’s trusted aide Raj Kesireddy with the help of Bhaskar Reddy’s associates. This amount was utilised for election campaign of YSR Congress party MLA contestants in several districts. Along with Chevireddy Bhaskar Reddy, his son Mohit Reddy and close confidant Venkatesh Naidu were also named in the memo filed by SIT authorities before the court.