No link with Delhi liquor shops, clarifies Magunta

Ongole(Prakasam District): Ongole MP Magunta Srinivasulu Reddy affirmed that he or his son Magunta Raghava Reddy has no connection with the alleged liquor scam in Delhi.

Speaking at a press meet here on Monday, Srinivasulu Reddy said that the Magunta family is in the liquor business for the last 70 years and the liquor barons in north India targeted his relatives, who ventured into business in Delhi, but it misfired at him and caused heavy loss to him.

Magunta said that he felt it is time to give the required explanation to the Magunta family supporters from Prakasam and Nellore districts and voters of Ongole parliament constituency, over the raids by the Enforcement Directorate at his residences in Delhi, Chennai and Nellore. He explained that his father Magunta Raghava Reddy ventured into liquor sales in June 1952, and since then their family members, relatives and friends are in the business. He said that his immediate family is in the business in eight States of south India for the last 35 years, but it is his relatives, who started Magunta Agrofarms and participated in the online auction of liquor shops in Delhi and got outlets in only two of the 32 zones. When they got to know that some Reddys from south India got the shops, the MP alleged that liquor businesspeople in north India even dared to threaten his relatives, by assuming that they are his close family members.

Srinivasulu Reddy stated that neither he nor his son have any connection with liquor business in Delhi. He said that he himself is not a director or even a shareholder and detached from the business and entered public service. He said that the Delhi government framed a policy on liquor sales and auctioned the outlets in online method. The Lieutenant General of Delhi suspected a scam in the allotment of the shops and ordered the CBI and ED inquiry, and they raided the premises of all people, who got the shops in 32 zones of Delhi, he explained. Magunta added that it is due to the propaganda of the people in north India, the enquiry agencies believed that his family is also involved in liquor business in Delhi directly and raided his houses.

The MP announced that the propaganda and the raids damaged his family's reputation, even though the agencies confirmed in the panchnama that they didn't find any intermittent documents at his premises. He said that his family, including his brother Subbarami Reddy, sister-in-law Parvathamma and himself is in the service of the public since 1991, and would continue to remain as his son Raghava Reddy will contest from Ongole parliament constituency in 2024 elections. Thrashing any political conspiracy behind the raids, MP Magunta said that he believes that they were targeted due to business rivalry of north Indian liquor barons with his relatives. He said that though the developments in the last few days are nothing but attempts at character assassination. As a law-abiding and responsible citizen of the country, Magunta announced that he will fully cooperate with the agencies.