Ponguleti’s son in luxury watch smuggling row

The original value of the watches was estimated by Customs to be Rs 1.73 crore; the Patek Philipe has no dealer in India, while the Breguet is out of stock in the Indian market, an official press release by Customs said.

Chennai: The Chennai Customs has issued summons to Ponguleti Harsha Reddy, the son of Telangana Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy, for his alleged involvement in the smuggling of high-end watches worth crores, according to official documents.

Reddy was asked to appear on April 4, but in a letter dated April 3, he expressed his inability to show up, stating that he is recovering from dengue fever, Customs sources quoting the letter said.

---

However, he has agreed to appear before the department after April 27, as per medical advice, sources said. Reddy said he had nothing to do with the case. “It is completely baseless,” he said.“I am unwell right now,” said Harsha, the son of Revenue and Housing Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy.

The summons dated March 28 was sent to the office of a family-owned firm in Hyderabad in which Harsha is a director.

The smuggling case was booked by Customs on February 5 when two luxury watches — Patek Philipe 5740 and Breguet 2759 — were seized from a Hongkong-based Indian Muhammed Faherdeen Mubeen, who came to Chennai from Singapore.

The original value of the watches was estimated by Customs to be Rs 1.73 crore; the Patek Philipe has no dealer in India, while the Breguet is out of stock in the Indian market, an official press release by Customs said.

According to investigations by Customs, Harsha has been allegedly identified as the buyer of the watches from Mubeen through an intermediary, Alokam Naveen Kumar, who was interrogated by Customs on March 12, sources said.

During interrogation, Naveen Kumar revealed that he acted as an intermediary between Harsha and Mubeen, a luxury watch dealer, and facilitated payments for the transaction through USDT — a form of cryptocurrency — and cash, using the hawala route, Customs sources claimed, quoting Kumar’s statements during questioning.

In his response to the Customs summons, Harsha said he was surprised and denied knowledge about the case, sources said. But he has agreed to appear before the department after April 27. Dismissing an anticipatory bail petition moved by Naveen Kumar, the Madras HC, in its order on March 18, said the amount involved in the smuggling of luxury watches might be more than Rs 100 crore.