AP-Centre rift widens with officer’s arrest
TNN | Dec 1, 2018, 07:30 ISTVIJAYAWADA/DELHI: The power struggle between Andhra Pradesh CM N Chandrababu Naidu and the Centre further escalated with CBI on Friday accusing the state anti-corruption bureau (ACB) of surreptitiously using information that the central agency had provided to arrest a central government employee.
ACB caught Mukku Kali Ramaneswar, superintendent of the Central Tax & Central Excise, while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000 at his office in Machilipatnam.
CBI released an official statement alleging that its Visakhapatnam office had first received a written complaint from K Lokesh Babu of Machilipatnam on November 28. Babu alleged that Ramaneswar was demanding a bribe for not raising objections in CGST returns filed by his firm.
“CBI regrets such non-cooperation by the state home department in this matter,” the central agency said in the statement. “This will only make the fight against corruption more difficult for the anti-corruption agencies and the mutual trust between the agencies will be vitiated. Corruption can be eradicated only through mutual cooperation and trust.”
CBI’s Visakhapatnam SP had written a ‘top secret’ letter to Andhra Pradesh principal secretary (home) on November 28, requesting the state government to issue specific consent for its officers to lay a trap on basis of the complaint. “It was also requested to keep the information strictly confidential and not to share the information with any other party,” the statement said. CBI had also made calls to the principal secretary and sent a request to the chief secretary.
“However, the AP government did not issue the specific consent as requested by CBI. Instead, the details were shared by the home department with state ACB and state ACB laid a trap on 30-11-2018 in the evening against the above central government public servant by using the contents of the above request letter,” the statement added. “Further, state ACB also issued a press release as if the complainant has directly approached them.”
R P Thakur, ACB DG, said earlier there was a gentleman’s agreement with CBI that ACB would stick to state government employees while CBI pursued central government employees. “Now, with the CBI role in the state being curtailed, ACB has taken this as a first case,” Thakur told TOI. Soon after Ramaneswar took money at 5.20 pm, sleuths barged into the office and recovered the tainted amount. He tested positive in phenolphthalein test.
ACB sources said they would register a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Ramaneswar. They would also intimate the CGST department head about the arrest of the gazetted officer and recommend departmental action against the accused.
ACB caught Mukku Kali Ramaneswar, superintendent of the Central Tax & Central Excise, while he was accepting a bribe of Rs 30,000 at his office in Machilipatnam.
CBI released an official statement alleging that its Visakhapatnam office had first received a written complaint from K Lokesh Babu of Machilipatnam on November 28. Babu alleged that Ramaneswar was demanding a bribe for not raising objections in CGST returns filed by his firm.
“CBI regrets such non-cooperation by the state home department in this matter,” the central agency said in the statement. “This will only make the fight against corruption more difficult for the anti-corruption agencies and the mutual trust between the agencies will be vitiated. Corruption can be eradicated only through mutual cooperation and trust.”
CBI’s Visakhapatnam SP had written a ‘top secret’ letter to Andhra Pradesh principal secretary (home) on November 28, requesting the state government to issue specific consent for its officers to lay a trap on basis of the complaint. “It was also requested to keep the information strictly confidential and not to share the information with any other party,” the statement said. CBI had also made calls to the principal secretary and sent a request to the chief secretary.
“However, the AP government did not issue the specific consent as requested by CBI. Instead, the details were shared by the home department with state ACB and state ACB laid a trap on 30-11-2018 in the evening against the above central government public servant by using the contents of the above request letter,” the statement added. “Further, state ACB also issued a press release as if the complainant has directly approached them.”
R P Thakur, ACB DG, said earlier there was a gentleman’s agreement with CBI that ACB would stick to state government employees while CBI pursued central government employees. “Now, with the CBI role in the state being curtailed, ACB has taken this as a first case,” Thakur told TOI. Soon after Ramaneswar took money at 5.20 pm, sleuths barged into the office and recovered the tainted amount. He tested positive in phenolphthalein test.
ACB sources said they would register a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against Ramaneswar. They would also intimate the CGST department head about the arrest of the gazetted officer and recommend departmental action against the accused.
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