Mega Sand Mining Scam: Ed Storms Multi-City Web; Seizes Crores In Cash, Silver Bullion After ₹2,400+ Crore Fraud Unearthed
(By Syed Ali Taher Abedi)
HYDERABAD 29, May,2026— In a major crackdown on large-scale financial irregularities, the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) has launched a massive multi-city search operation targeting a colossal sand mining scam. The raids, conducted under the stringent provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, spanned eight strategic locations across Hyderabad, Jaipur, and Coimbatore.
The enforcement action has uncovered a web of illegal excavations and regulatory bypassing that allegedly drained public resources, leading to penal demands exceeding ₹2,407 Crore.
Simultaneous Raids Across Three States
The ED’s Hyderabad Zonal Office coordinated the multi-pronged operation, simultaneously hitting corporate offices and luxury residential properties.
The searches targeted the official headquarters of three prominent infrastructure and project development firms:
- M/s GCKC Projects and Works Pvt. Ltd.
- M/s Prathima Infrastructure Ltd.
- M/s Turnkey Enterprises Pvt. Ltd.
In tandem, ED sleuths raided the residential properties of key individuals linked to the operations, including Boinipally Srinivas Rao, Ashok Kumar, and V.G. Venkata Reddy across Hyderabad and Jaipur. A sprawling farmhouse belonging to Boinipally Srinivas Rao was also subjected to a thorough search.
The Genesis: Bureaucratic Collusion & Sand Looting
The central agency’s money-laundering probe stems from a foundational First Information Report (FIR) registered by the Central Investigation Unit (CIU) of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh.
The initial criminal case named V.G. Venkata Reddy—the then Director of Mines & Geology (DMG)—alongside mega-corporations M/s Jaiprakash Power Ventures Ltd. (JPVL), Prathima Infrastructure, and GCKC Projects. The accused face severe allegations of manipulating tender provisions, violating statutory mining agreements, and orchestrating widespread illegal sand mining operations.
How the Fraud Was Unearthed
To counter rampant illegal mining, the Hon’ble Supreme Court had previously mandated the formation of District Level Sand Committees (DSLC) to independently inspect sand reaches and document environmental violations.
When the DSLC conducted physical inspections, they caught the operators red-handed executing two distinct types of illegal excavation:
- Deep-Bore Excavation: Digging for sand far beyond the environmentally permitted safety depth.
- Unpermitted Territorial Mining: Extracting vast quantities of sand from zones entirely outside their legally allotted tender boundaries.
Following the DSLC’s damning findings, the Office of the Director of Mines & Geology was forced to issue a barrage of Show Cause Notices to JPVL, GCKC Projects, and Prathima Infrastructure. When these went unanswered or unrectified, massive Demand Notices were slapped on the firms.
The Financial Scale: An ED analysis of these official DMG demand notices revealed that the government had raised a staggering ₹2407.70 Crore penalty against the three entities for their systematic looting of sand reaches.
The Haul: Luxury Wealth, Currency, and Bullion Seized
The intensive search operations yielded immediate results, exposing a massive accumulation of unexplained wealth.
Beyond the hard cash and precious metals, investigators hit a goldmine of incriminating physical and digital documentation. The seized records detail vast movable and immovable properties registered under the names of the primary accused individuals and their immediate family members—assets suspected to be the “proceeds of crime.”
The Road Ahead
With digital devices sent for forensic mirroring and financial trails branching into multiple shell networks, top ED officials have confirmed that this is just the tip of the iceberg. “Further investigation is actively under progress,” an agency official stated, hinting at potential arrests and asset attachments in the coming weeks.
