Interestingly, the incident remained buried for four days, surfacing only after social media posts went viral and Opposition parties demanded action.
Published Dec 04, 2025 | 11:18 AM ⚊ Updated Dec 04, 2025 | 4:46 PM
While two constables held him, the SI reportedly used a lathi to beat his heels for about 25 minutes.
Synopsis: The Telangana police have registered a case of alleged land grabbing against several, including Raghava Constructions — a firm owned by Ponguleti Harsha Reddy, son of Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy. The land lies close to Exit 1A of the Outer Ring Road, a prime slice of real estate in one of the country’s fastest-growing urban corridors.
In what is being seen as a major embarrassment for the Congress-led government in Telangana, the police have registered a case of alleged land grabbing against several people, including, Raghava Constructions — a firm owned by Ponguleti Harsha Reddy, son of Revenue Minister Ponguleti Srinivasa Reddy.
The case was registered over an alleged land grab attempt in Vattinagulapally on Hyderabad’s western edge.
According to the police, the flare-up occurred on 30 November, when more than 70 hired musclemen, backed by JCB excavators, descended on a three-acre plot valued at an exorbitant ₹300 crore.
The land, owned by local resident Pallavi Shah and her family, lies close to Exit 1A of the Outer Ring Road, a prime slice of real estate in one of the country’s fastest-growing urban corridors.
In her complaint to the Gachibowli police, Shah described a brazen assault on her property: Boundary walls were torn down, sheds were razed, and even a goshala housing cattle was destroyed — causing damage running into crores.
When the family objected, they were allegedly manhandled, turning what was ostensibly a property dispute into a violent confrontation.
Police registered an FIR under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including criminal trespass, rioting and intimidation, and a separate case was booked for the alleged assault.
Interestingly, the incident remained buried for four days, surfacing only after social media posts went viral and Opposition parties demanded action.
However, trouble has been brewing for the Ponguleti family for months, beginning with a high-profile Enforcement Directorate (ED) investigation that played out in September 2024.
Adding to the government’s troubles is a separate scandal involving Minister for Women and Child Welfare, Konda Surekha.
In October 2025, her former Officer on Special Duty (OSD), B Sumanth, allegedly threatened the executives of a cement company at gunpoint, demanding ₹50 lakh as a “fee” for expediting a mining lease.
An FIR was subsequently filed against him on charges of extortion and criminal intimidation.
The controversy intensified during a late-night police search on 15–16 October at Surekha’s Jubilee Hills residence, where Sumanth was suspected to be hiding.
Her daughter, Congress youth leader Konda Sushmita, confronted the police, accusing them of entering without a warrant and calling the raid a politically motivated witch-hunt. Videos of the showdown quickly circulated online, fuelling public debate.
Surekha later apologised to the chief minister on 24 October, terming the incident a “misunderstanding.” Meanwhile, the Opposition BRS demanded that cases be filed against the minister and her daughter for obstructing the investigation.
The probe continues, even as murmurs grow within Congress circles about internal factional tensions linked to lucrative government contracts.
Responding to South First‘s report on the FIR, Raghava Constructions sought to distance itself from the case.
In an email, a company spokesperson said, “The concerned FIR [sic] was filed by Pallavi Shah against individuals named Abhinav and Akshay, who are her family members. It’s an internal family dispute and Raghava Constructions is not involved in the FIR.”
A copy of the FIR accessed by South First, however, named Raghava Constructions as the seventh accused.
(Updated with response from Raghava Constructions. Edited by Muhammed Fazil.)
