In connection with a casino money laundering investigation, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Wednesday questioned Talasani Srinivas Yadav’s family members at its Basheerbagh office.
The casino’s organizer, Chikoti Praveen Kumar, is accused of using a number of actors and famous people to promote casino activities that were actually a cover for hawala transactions.
Earlier in July, the ED conducted raids at eight locations associated with Praveen and his assistant Madhav Reddy in Hyderabad and one in Andhra Pradesh. It was discovered that the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) had been broken in multiple cases during these raids.
While authorities are getting ready to issue further notices, it is alleged that up to 100 people who were brought to Nepal by Praveen to engage in gaming activities are currently under ED scrutiny.
According to sources, Dharmender Yadav and Talasani Mahesh Yadav were questioned by ED at Hyderabad’s Adarsh Nagar. The investigators questioned the two for eight hours as they were suspected of participating in hawala transactions to raise money for casino operations in Nepal.
The Central agency served Dharmendra, and Mahesh notices before the interrogation after discovering records of financial transactions between the two and the two accused, Praveen and a casino co-organizer named Dasari Madhava Reddy.
During the earlier raid at the residences of the casino organizers, ED seized documents of bank transactions, procured bank statements and perused WhatsApp chats and call data.
In relation to the casino events, a complaint was filed under FEMA. One specific incident that took place in Nepal is being probed, and their activities in Goa are also being examined. The ED has also taken note of the identities of further individuals who allegedly showed a desire to raise cash illegally and play in casinos located in Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Indonesia.
According to sources in the ED, the minister’s relatives might have been recruited under the guise of their involvement in casino activities to carry out hawala transactions.
