A senior official at the municipal department of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh was arrested by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB). (Representational Image/ IE)
A senior official at the municipal department of Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh was arrested by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Monday night for possessing assets worth over Rs 500 crore. As per Hindustan Times report, the official was arrested just three days before his retirement. Golla Venkata Raghurami Reddy, director of state town planning in the municipal department, was arrested by ACB after the authorities raided his house and other properties in 15 places which include Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Shirdi, Maharastra. Reddy was scheduled to retire on Wednesday. Moreover, Reddy had planned to throw a big party for his friends and relatives at a resort abroad on the occasion of his retirement. He also booked tickets for them. The senior official also owns a hotel, Sai Suraj Kunj, in Shirdi and 300 acres of valuable land in Gannavaram near Vijaywada among other properties, the report added.
During the raid ACB officers also found Rs 50 lakh in cash at Reddy’s house. ACB director general RP Thakur said the raids, which began on Monday morning, would continue on Tuesday as well. The market value of the assets confiscated so far has been estimated to be around Rs 500 crore.
The authorities also raided the house of Reddy’s cousin, AO Venkata Sivaprasad and other relatives, the report added. His relatives were acting as “benamis.” The ACB sources told HT that as many as 15 teams had participated in the raids in early Monday morning. There were raids conducted in Guntur, Chittoor and Mangalagiri too.
ACB deputy superintendent of police conducted raids at Sivaprasad’s residence in Vijayawada. As per HT report, at Sivaprasad’s house, the authorities found gold and diamonds worth Rs 19 crore. The gold and diamonds were stashed in the washing machine the report added. As per HT sources, Sivaprasad’s wife was also acting as benami of Reddy. Eight people, including Reddy’s in-laws, were found to be holding properties on behalf of Reddy, as per HT report.
