Hyderabad: The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Wednesday, April 1, caught an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) and a university staffer red-handed accepting bribes, while also unearthing tax collection irregularities worth over Rs 14 crore at a municipal office in Khammam district following a raid conducted a day earlier.
ASI held for fixing Lok Adalat case
Poosala Balaiah, an ASI attached to Chaitanyapuri Police Station under the Malkajgiri Commissionerate, was trapped while accepting Rs 15,000 from a complainant to alter charges and facilitate a compromise in a Lok Adalat case.
Osmania University staffer caught in pension bribe
K Ramesh, 48, a junior assistant in the pay bill section of Osmania University’s administration office, was caught accepting Rs 13,000 in bribes, not just for himself but also on behalf of Aravind, a senior assistant in the same section, to process a complainant’s mother’s pension file and expedite her retirement benefits.
Rs 14 crore tax shortfall at Sathupally municipality
On Tuesday, March 31, the ACB’s Khammam Range conducted a surprise check at the office of the Municipal Commissioner, Sathupally municipality, and found that of the Rs 22.23 crore due to be collected in the 2025-26 financial year across various tax heads, only Rs 7.99 crore had been recovered, leaving a balance of Rs 14.23 crore.
The uncollected amount included Rs 13.08 crore under the Layout Regularisation Scheme (LRS), Rs 1.02 crore in property tax, Rs 8.72 lakh in shopping complex property tax and Rs 3.80 lakh in advertisement tax, the last of which had seen zero collection.
During the check, officials also examined staff mobile phones and found suspicious transactions on the phone of Naguibandi Narasimha Rao, bill collector of Sathupally municipality, pointing to alleged financial dealings involving M Srinivas, manager of the municipality, and others.
Further verification is underway to fix responsibility and a detailed report will be submitted to the government recommending action against the officials concerned, the ACB said.
