Four AP govt officials in ACB net for possessing illegal assets worth Rs 50 Cr

Visakhapatnam: Five government officials from four districts of Andhra Pradesh were arrested on 4 February for possessing illegal assets worth over Rs 50 crore.

Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials arrested T. Mohan Rao, executive engineer of the tribal welfare department and ITDA, Parvathipuram, Vizianagaram district, for amassing illegal assets (both movable and immovable properties) worth over Rs 20 crore. The ACB sleuths led by Srikakulam DSP B.V.S Ramana Murthy raided Rao's house at Srikakulam and his relatives’ houses at Vizianagaram, Vizag, and a few other places in north Andhra Pradesh.

The officials said they arrested Rao for possessing assets beyond his known source of income. The seized assets, including cash, gold, land holdings, houses, and others are estimated to be around Rs 2.01 crore as per the registration value but it would easily be in excess of Rs 20 crore as per the market rates, they said.

In another raid, the ACB officials found over Rs 1.75 crore worth illegal assets (movable and immovable properties) belonging to S. Govindu (Govindam), staff assistant of Primary Agriculture Cooperative Society, Tamaram, Makavarapalem in Vizag district. The officials have arrested Govindam for amassing over Rs 15 crore worth illegal assets (as per market value).

Meanwhile, Sakhe Satyam, the RDO and PA to Special Collector, Srisailam Project in Kurnool district, was caught in the ACB net for amassing illegal assets worth over Rs 5 crore, including immovable properties.

The ACB officials arrested two more persons in East Godavari district for disproportionate properties. The arrested have been identified as Gandham Venkata Pallam Raju, superintending engineer at Kakinada Municipal Corporation, and L. Raghu Babu, the district CEO for Employment and Training, Kakinada. The officials said they found illegal assets worth over Rs 15 crore belonging to the two.