Gotcha Botsa: Booze cartel linked to Andhra Congress chief and family

By A. Srinivasa Rao

Published: 19:36 EST, 3 April 2012 | Updated: 20:27 EST, 3 April 2012

Andhra Pradesh Congress president and transport minister Botsa Satyanarayana's alleged links with the booze mafia in north-coastal Vizianagaram district has erupted into a war between him and chief minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy.

The trigger was the anticorruption bureau's recent raids on the illegal liquor syndicates in Vizianagaram that exposed Botsa.

He, in turn, reportedly wrote a terse letter to party president Sonia Gandhi, pouring his heart out against the chief minister for 'deliberately trying to fix him and his family' in the liquor scam.

Satyanarayana¿s alleged links with the booze mafia has sparked a war between him and the CM

The CM, on the other hand, has sent a report to Sonia explaining that the raids were part of a routine exercise and shouldn't be construed as witchhunting.

Following this unpleasant letter war, the Congress high command has summoned both leaders to New Delhi. But, sources said, the state party president might offer to step down in protest against the CM's 'vindictive attitude'.

Botsa Satyanarayana

During the raids, it was found that the Botsa family 'controlled' or had a say in more than 50 per cent of the liquor shops in Vizianagaram district.

After verifying the records, a case was registered on March 27 pertaining to the fraud committed in the auction.

Anti-corruption bureau (ACB) director general Bhoobati Babu said of the 202 shops selling alcohol with a licence in the district, 103 belonged to the people below poverty line (BPL). Three licence-holders possessed ration cards of the Antyodaya scheme and nine others possess temporary BPL ration cards.

But the telling lacunae after a preliminary inquiry revealed 33 licence-holders were working as petty employees or casual labourers in the wine shops that officially belong to them.

'Several wine shops bear similar trade names which possibly indicate that they are controlled by one or more group of persons or syndicates,' Babu said.

He said the syndicates gained control of more than 50 per cent of the shops with active assistance and collusion of government officials - right from the auction stage.

'Investigations are on to unravel the flow of money,' he added.

Though the ACB official statement did not name Botsa, the sleuths have pretty much established his family's role in the ripoff.

'It requires huge capital to participate in the auction of liquor shops. Each shop was auctioned for not less than `50 lakh. In some areas it went up to even `3 crore to `4 crore. How can a person with a BPL ration card or a casual labourer in a liquor shop participate in the liquor auctions and get a licence? Obviously, they were all proxies of a big leader,' an ACB official said.

The raids apparently revealed that in Vizianagaram town, 11 of 12 shops are owned by those who had close links with Botsa. K. Lakhsmana Rao, who works in Satya Stone Crushers owned by the Botsa family in Vizianagaram district, is the owner of Dhana Laksmi Wine Shop.

Ironically, Rao is a BPL ration card holder living in a small house and he bagged the shop in the liquor auction in 2010 by investing more than `50 lakh.

So is Majji Srinivasa Rao, another BPL ration card holder working in the same backbreaking stone crushing unit of the Botsa family. He is the 'owner' of Priya Wines - winning the auction for `79 lakh.

Likewise, their colleague at Satya Stone Crushers, Penki Murali Krishna, "owns" Vijaya Durga Wines after he won the auction at a commanding price of `80 lakh.

There's more in the cupboard. Alli Srinivasa Rao, who bagged the licence for Ganesh Wines at `83.77 lakh, worked in Satya Lodge - another Botsa family enterprise. Lenka Venkataramana, who is an accountant with Botsa firms, owned Ambedkar Beer and Wines at `1.26 crore. And all of them are 'poor' according to the BPL records.

Others such as Mogasala Suresh of Dhanalaksmi Wines in Bobbili town, Mommana Ramu of Balaji Wines in Narayanapuram and D. Eshwara Rao of Sailakshmi Wines at Chintalapalem are daily wage labourers.

They remember signing some papers a couple of years ago for which they were paid `200 each.

'Probes revealed that these are not ordinary cases of corruption, but have ingredients of organised crime. We will take action when adequate evidence has been gathered. We will never act under duress,' an ACB official said.

Botsa said: 'I was shocked and wondered why I came to politics. Since I am in a responsible position, I don't want to comment on the probe. I will talk at an appropriate time.'

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