TSRERA secretary Balakrishna faces bribe charges: Properties worth Rs 8 crores found

Hyderabad: Sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), in continuation of the investigation against Telangana State Real Estate Regulatory Authority (RERA) secretary S Balakrishna, unearth swanky properties running into crores.

The ACB, in its remand report, has submitted that the officer had earlier served as planning director of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA). Here is a list of properties of the tainted officer. The list includes net cash of Rs 99,60,850, gold ornaments weighing 1,988 grams, silver ornaments weighing around 6 kg were found in his house and other places raided.

Further documents relating to movable and immovable properties worth around Rs 55,048,272 were also found during searches. The total value of the properties found during the searches is about Rs 8,26,48,999 as per the government’s evaluation. The remand report also revealed that Balakrishna was involved in large-scale corruption in connection with the approval of layouts.

Balakrishna accepted villas as bribe

The tainted officer demanded huge amounts of bribes and benefitted in the pretext of errors in the applications. Balakrishna even accepted villas as a bribe for the construction of plots. The ACB officials will open up the bank accounts of Balakrishna soon after taking him into custody. On the other hand, the officials will also investigate the officials who supported Balakrishna in large-scale corruption.

On January 24, the ACB officials carried out simultaneous raids in the residences and 15 other properties for two consecutive days. The raids were held at Villa No 25, Aditya Fort View, Secretariat Colony, Puppalaguda, Rajendra Nagar and other locations belonging to family and friends.

The investigation also found that the tainted officer acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income by allegedly indulging in corrupt practices and dubious income sources during his service.