No Supreme Court Relief For Main Accused In Rs 3,200 Crore Andhra Liquor Scam

The Supreme Court on Friday upheld the arrest of the prime accused in the Rs 3,200-crore Andhra Pradesh liquor scam case.

An Andhra Pradesh Special Investigation Team (SIT) arrested K Rajasekhar Reddy, an IT advisor to former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, last month. Reddy, however, called his arrest "illegal".

A division bench of Justice JB Pardiwala dismissed his petition, citing "no merit" in the appeal. The top court said that Reddy can apply for regular bail.

In a remand report of Reddy, the SIT said he was allegedly responsible for the discontinuation of popular liquor brands and the promotion of blue-eyed brands' (favoured brands), along with other persons.

"Investigation so far done revealed that Kasireddy Rajasekhar Reddy is the key person in criminal conspiracy and execution in organising the kickbacks driven liquor trade in AP (Andhra Pradesh) during 2019 - 2024," the remand report submitted to a local court said on April 22.

It claimed that the automated system of placing orders for the procurement of liquor from distilleries for sale through government retail outlets was allegedly manipulated, nationally reputed brands were removed, and orders were placed on new brands way beyond the prescribed caps.

Kickbacks of Rs 150 per case of cheaper brands, Rs 200 for mid-range brands and Rs 600 per case for high-end brands were collected, it alleged.

The collected amounts were handed over to Reddy, who would pass the money to the YSRCP leaders, the note alleged.

"This is a case of conspiracy, cheating, criminal breach of trust, corruption and money laundering which caused huge wrongful loss to the state exchequer/distilleries and wrongful gain to influential individuals/blue-eyed distilleries/blue-eyed suppliers to a tune of more than Rs 3,200 crore, that occured between October 2019 and March 2024 in AP State Beverages Corporation Ltd, Vijayawada," the remand note said.