Andhra Pradesh: ACB caught 62 bribe taking officials;Revenue dpt most corrupt

Andhra Pradesh: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) caught 62 trained officials red-handed accepting bribe amounting to Rs 28.39 lakh this year.ACB also booked 14 corrupt public servants in disproportionate assets case this year.

In an annual performance report released on December 30, ACB said 97 surprised checks were conducted across the state and 102 regular inquiries were made. This is besides 15 cases of criminal misconduct booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

State Revenue department tops the chart of the most corrupt section, ACB said. Of the 62 trap cases, the maximum number was registered against the revenue department officials.

Accused D. Koteswar Rao, serving as a town planning surveyor of Ananthapuramu district was caught red-handed accepting bribe of Rs. 7 lakhs for issuing survey report of the complainant. Case studies indicate that huge bribes are being demanded even for trivial works like entry information online.

Sample this: P Gangadri, Village revenue officer of Chittoor district was caught red-handed in December with a bribe of Rs. 1 lakh. The bribe was paid to process and forward the application to the higher authorities to make entries on the website. Similarly, P. Srihari Babu, V.R.O. Prakasam demanded a graft of Rs 1 lakh to issue details of the land.

In another case, N. Naga Raja Naik, Assistant Director of Fire services, Kurnool district, was trapped in September when he accepted a bribe of Rs.1.20 lakh for issuing NoC to the Multi-Specialty dental hospital of the complainant.

Disproportionate Assets Case:

During 2020, ACB has registered 14 disproportionate assets cases resulting in the detection of a huge number of illegal assets.Few holding high positions booked include:

1. M.V. Siva Satyanarayana, Dy. Director of Drugs Control, Admin, Guntur

2. Kandra Vijaya Kumar, Supdt. Engineer, Nellore district

3. Rama Krishna Kona, D.M., Eluru, W.G. district

4. Chalapathi Naidu, Dy.F.R.O. Ofo Div. Forest Office, Tirupathi, Chittoor district

5. Sake Satyam, Revenue Divisional Officer, Srisailam Project, Kurnool

6. Lanke Raghu Babu, Chief Executive Officer, Kakinada, E.G. district

7. Venkata Pallam Raju, Supdt. Engineer, O/o Municipal Corporation Kakinada E.G. district

8. Panthula Sankar, DSP, APSP Battalions, Kakinada, E.G. district

ACB said the year also saw 7 convictions in the corruption cases