Trouble to former BRS Minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav seems to be inevitable after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has found irregularities worth Rs 1,000 crore in the distribution of sheep undertaken during the BRS government. ED officials are conducting searches at the Kalyan house of former minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav, then OSD.
Passbooks of more than 200 bank accounts have been seized. The officials have found that the same bank accounts were also used in betting applications. 31 cellphones and 20 SIM cards were found in the ED searches. The ED said that the funds that should have gone to the real beneficiaries went to the accounts of private individuals and found irregularities worth more than Rs 1,000 crore in the distribution of sheep in 33 districts across Telangana.
The ED conducted searches at six places in Hyderabad on July 30 in the sheep distribution scam case. The officials conducted extensive searches at the homes of former Animal Husbandry Department Director Ramachandra Nayak, the main accused Moinuddin, and several others. Initially, the Telangana ACB registered a case against this scam.
In 2015, the then TRS state government launched the sheep distribution scheme. Records show that sheep worth about Rs. 4000 crore were distributed to thousands of eligible people across the Telangana state. The ACB investigation revealed that some officials and middlemen conspired to loot funds from the beginning of this scheme.
The records showed that some sellers had been paid, and this gang of middlemen embezzled those funds. It was revealed that these funds were diverted into benami accounts and everyone got their shares together and shared them. The sudden entry of the ED into the sheep embezzlement case has shaken the hearts of the illegals in the joint Karimnagar district.
The CAG’s audit report estimated loss to the Government was pegged at Rs. 253.93 Crore. On a proportionate basis for all the 33 districts in the entire state of Telangana, the loss is likely to exceed Rs. 1000 Crore. Moreover, investigation also indicated that no sale/purchase of sheep was ever done by these recipients of funds.
Thus, Government funds were illegally diverted to bank accounts of bogus vendors.