Customs officials in Chennai have summoned Ponguleti Harsha Reddy, the son of Telangana Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, regarding the acquisition of two luxury watches valued at Rs 1.7 crore, suspected to have been smuggled from Hong Kong via Singapore.
The watches, a Patek Philipe 5740 and a Breguet 2759 were seized from Mohammed Mubeen, a dealer of luxury watches, upon his return from Singapore on February 5. Chennai Customs acted on a tip-off received by the Air Intelligence Unit (AIU), uncovering the concealed watches in Mubeen’s possession.
Allegedly, Harsha Reddy procured the watches through an intermediary, A Naveen Kumar, who placed the order with Mubeen. There are allegations of involvement of hawala transactions and cryptocurrency in the purchase, with Kumar reportedly confirming the watches as those acquired by Harsha Reddy.
Harsha Reddy received a summons on March 28 to appear before Customs officials on April 4 to provide his statement. However, due to illness, he requested an extension, indicating his intent to comply on April 27. Meanwhile, an extensive investigation is underway against Kumar, suspected of being associated with smuggling luxury watches exceeding Rs 100 crore.
R Srinivasa Naik, Principal Commissioner of Chennai Customs (Airport Commissionerate), stated that investigations are ongoing into other instances of luxury watch smuggling. He mentioned that a local court had rejected Kumar’s anticipatory bail plea, emphasizing the continuation of the investigation against him. Harsha Reddy’s summons is reportedly linked to this investigation.
Telangana Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy declined to comment, indicating that his son would issue a statement at a later time.
