An application was filed in the Supreme Court (SC) in April 2024 against the company Megha Engineering & Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), a hyderabad-based company owned by Krishna Reddy, was the second largest purchaser of the Electoral Bonds worth around Rs 1200 crore. This application was filed in connection with a petition already pending in the SC against MEIL since 2019.
Through this application the petitioner apprised the Court that MEIL had been involved in wrongdoings since 2016 and the Electoral Bonds data further strengthened the case against the company who allegedly used bonds as a tool to bribe ruling political parties to secure lucrative government projects.
MEIL alone purchased Rs 980 crore worth bonds while its three companies – Western UP Power Transmissions Co. Ltd, SEPC Power, and EveyTrans Pvt. Ltd bought Bonds worth Rs 220 crore, Rs 40 crore and Rs 6 crores – summing up to the total of Rs 1200 crore. The primary political parties that received donations through bonds from this company were Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and BRS.
In October 2019, MEIL was raided by the Income Tax Department in connection with the contract for construction of Kaleshwaram Project, one of the largest lift irrigation projects, awarded by the Telangana government.
The CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) in its report had mentioned gross irregularities in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project worth around Rs 1.5 lakh crore. In Kaleshwaram project the cost of project was increased substantially.
“Audit analysis revealed that the re-engineered Kaleshwaram project was economically unviable and ab-initio” said the CAG in its report ‘Performance Audit on Kaleshwaram Project‘ published in 2024.
The CAG report points out serious undue advantages were given to MEIL. It states that a huge difference was found between the actual cost and the price of estimates provided by MEIL.
The application filed in the Supreme Court by Nagam Janardan Reddy, a former Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) and a Minister in the Government of State of Andhra Pradesh (before bifurcation) and a former Chairman of Public Accounts Committee mentioned, “large infrastructure projects of MEIL were awarded to it by government departments and PSUs either just before or immediately after MEIL purchased electoral bonds in huge numbers”- establishing alleged instances of quid pro quo between the company and the governments.
The application also states, “it has found that there is a huge difference between the actual cost and the price of estimates provided by MEIL. Thus, as per CAG, an excess payment of Rs. 7500 crores have been made in the Kaleshwaram project alone out of which the bulk has been pocketed by MEIL”.
Megha Engineering has grabbed more attention ever since the electoral bonds data were released by the Election Commission of India on the Supreme Court’s order. The company is also known for his closeness with former Telangana chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao.
https://www.reporters-collective.in/trc/megha-group-donated-rs-1232-crore
https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/current-affairs/110124/klis-re-engineering-quadrupled-project-cost-says-cag.html