Officials from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday grilled casino operators Chikoti Praveen Kumar and Madhava Reddy for alleged hawala transactions and violations of the Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA).
The duo were grilled after the ED conducted raids at their houses and other locations in Hyderabad last week and seized some documents. They were served notices to appear before the agency to probe their alleged involvement in suspicious monetary transactions made from the casino businesses and the involvement of politicians etc.
Chikoti organises gambling clubs, casinos, and also tours abroad for his well heeled customers – businessmen and politicians included – in places like Nepal, Bangkok. Some Tollywood, Bollywood celebrities were found to be promoting his casino shows.
TPCC chief Revanth Reddy alleged the support of TRS ministers, MLAs for Chikoti. “His secret friends, hawala partners should be revealed. Not just ED, a judicial inquiry should be constituted by the K Chandrasekhar Rao government on the role of the accused if the ruling party wants to disprove the charges around Chikoti's dealings with their leaders,” Reddy had said while questioning the silence of the Telangana chief minister and his son, IT industries minister KT Rama Rao on the Chikoti episode.
Telangana's labour and employment minister Malla Reddy has denied having any connections with the casino operators.
After the ED raids, the lavish lifestyle of Chikoti – luxury cars, birthday bashes, proximity with celebrities etc – came to light. Chikoti also kept several exotic animals like macaws and iguanas at his farmhouse at Kadthal near Hyderabad. Forest department officials are probing if he has violated any wildlife act.
Published 01 August 2022, 17:25 IST