Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd, which has emerged as the second-biggest buyer of electoral bonds and is the subject of a bribery case filed by the CBI, is owned by a billionaire who is the fifth child of a farmer from Andhra Pradesh's Krishna district.
Refusing to let his humble beginnings prevent him from sowing the seeds of what would become a behemoth valued at Rs 67,500 crore, Pamireddy Pitchi Reddy himself commands a personal net worth of $2.3 billion (approximately Rs 19,230 crore), according to Forbes. He also now lives in a house in Hyderabad which is shaped like a diamond.
PP Reddy started the company with a capital of just Rs 5 lakh from a shed at Balanagar in Hyderabad under the name of Megha Engineering Enterprises and built pipes for municipalities. His nephew, PV Krishna Reddy, joined the company two years later and the two men slowly branched out into building roads and taking up small infrastructure projects, eventually changing the company's name to Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Ltd (MEIL) in 2006.
With the elder Reddy as the chairman of the company and the nephew as the managing director, MEIL started making a name for itself in a crowded industry filled with competitors with deep pockets, and went on to become one of India's top-performing unlisted companies.
The company slowly began taking up major projects like highways and power plants and then expanded to over 20 states and multiple countries, including Bangladesh and Kuwait.
One of the company's most talked-about projects is the construction of the Zojila tunnel, which will provide all-weather connectivity between Ganderbal in Kashmir and Drass in Kargil. The cost of the project is around Rs 25,000 crore.
Other key contracts include the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation project in Telangana and the construction of the Bandra-Kurla Complex Station for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, which is being carried out in collaboration with another company.
PP Reddy now lives in a house built to look like a diamond in Hyderabad, which is now one of the city's landmarks. He also has a golf course in his farmhouse.
MEIL had bought electoral bonds worth Rs 966 crore and emerged as the second-biggest buyer after Future Gaming, owned by 'Lottery King' Santiago Martin.
The CBI has registered a bribery case against the company and some government officials. The eight officials are accused of receiving a bribe of Rs 78 lakh in exchange for clearing MEIL's bills of Rs 174 crore related to the Jagdalpur integrated steel plant in Chhattisgarh.
