Hyderabad: Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials have put Manikonda Electricity Department Assistant Divisional Engineer (ADE) Ambedkar on suspension after detecting disproportionate assets in recent raids.
The officer, who was also discharging duties in the Narsingi division, was taken into custody earlier this month and has been sent to judicial custody for 14 days.
Raids reveal crores of assets
In the raids, ACB officials recovered more than Rs 2 crore in cash from the house of Ambedkar’s purported benami. The investigators also seized several high-end properties such as a new building in Serilingampally, six residential plots in Hyderabad, a farmhouse on the outskirts of the city, and agricultural lands, reported ABN.
Official sources said Ambedkar had also floated a private firm, Anthar Chemicals Private Limited, on a 10-acre plot on which he served as director though he was a government officer. Further, he possessed luxury cars, gold ornaments, and kept deposits in various bank accounts. The estimated worth of the assets is said to be running into hundreds of crores when valued at market rates.
Allegations of bribery in works of electricity
Ambedkar was tasked with technical sanctions for electricity connections, shifting of lines, and upgradations in fast-growing localities such as Manikonda and Narsingi. As per complaints lodged with the ACB, he was purportedly accepting massive bribes from builders and residents who were applying for multi-storey building and residential connections approvals.
Suspension and further probe
After his arrest, senior officials of the electricity department have issued suspension orders. Ambedkar is currently jailed in Chanchalguda. The ACB has also moved a petition requesting his custody to continue investigating his financial transactions and potential connections with accomplices.
