Mumbai: Vasai Virar City Municipal Corporation (VVCMC) deputy director (town planning) YS Reddy has been suspended from service following the seizure of cash and valuables worth ₹32 crore from his Hyderabad residence last week. The suspension order bearing VVCMC commissioner Anil Pawar’s signature was issued on Monday.
Reddy will also face a departmental inquiry regarding his alleged connection with the construction of 41 illegal buildings in Vasai East, which were demolished earlier this year as per orders of the Bombay high court, the suspension order stated. Reddy’s alleged actions were in violation of the Maharashtra Civil Services (conduct) rules, the order said.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is conducting a money laundering probe in connection with construction of the 41 illegal buildings on a 60-acre plot reserved for a sewage treatment plant and dumping ground, conducted searches at 13 locations in Vasai-Virar and Hyderabad last week. The searches led to the seizure of ₹8.6 crore in cash and diamond-studded jewellery and bullion worth ₹23.25 crore from Reddy’s Hyderabad residence.
Reddy subsequently complained of heart-related problems and was admitted to a hospital in Hyderabad, where he continues to remain under treatment, said sources in the civic body.
“His statement will be recorded once he is discharged from the hospital, after which the inquiry report will be submitted to the VVCMC commissioner,” said a VVCMC official who did not wish to be identified. “Arrest proceedings may be initiated against him after that.”
Reddy has had a controversial career since joining the VVCMC in 2015, his colleagues told Hindustan Times. On April 28, 2016, he was caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau while paying a bribe of ₹25 lakh to then corporator Dhananjay Gawade. He was placed in police custody for over 48 hours at the time, which led to his suspension lasting nearly five years.
Reddy subsequently moved the high court against the suspension, claiming the charges against him were false. On June 6, 2023, the court quashed the first information report against him and reinstated him in service.
His name cropped up in ED’s money laundering probe into construction of the 41 illegal buildings after he moved a proposal in March 2025 to shift the sewage treatment plant from the plot on which the buildings stood to Gaas village. It was alleged that he was colluding with builders to sell the vacated plot to them at inflated rates.