Telangana excise official arrested in disproportionate assets case after ACB raids

Hyderabad, June 23 (IANS) Telangana’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday arrested Kommuri Mallareddy, District Prohibition and Excise Office (Excise Superintendent), Nizamabad, in a disproportionate assets case after conducting searches at premises linked to him and his relatives.

The ACB booked the case against Mallareddy, alleging that he acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income by indulging in corrupt practices and dubious means during his service.

The agency said in a statement that, as the offence is punishable under Section 13 (1) (b) r/w 13 (2) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018), searches were conducted on Tuesday at his residence and 10 other places belonging to him, his relatives, benamis, and associates.

During searches, five structures – four residential houses and one commercial block – eight open plots, and 10.23 acres of agricultural land were detected.

The ACB officials also found net cash of approximately Rs 3.31 lakh, bank balances amounting to Rs 50 lakh, and three bank lockers in the names of the accused officer’s wife and family members. These lockers will be opened during the investigation. In addition, one Grand Vitara car and one TVS Scooty were found.

The total value of the assets detected during the searches is approximately Rs 3 crore. The market value of the immovable properties is expected to be many times higher than the document value.

The anti-graft agency stated that further verification of additional assets is underway. The accused officer is being produced before the Second Additional Special Judge for judicial remand in SPE & ACB cases.

This comes a week after the ACB arrested Sunkari Narahari, Deputy Director of Lands and Surveys (Multi Zone-2), in a disproportionate assets case.

The ACB booked a case and arrested Narahari after searches at his premises unearthed assets of over Rs 13 crore, including Rs 1.54 crore cash.

Officials found net cash of about Rs 1.54 crore, bank balances of Rs 2.29 crore, fixed deposits of Rs 5.04 crore, gold ornaments weighing about 1.3 kg, and 8 kg of silver in his house.

Later, the ACB searched two bank lockers in the name of Narahari’s wife. A net cash of Rs 1.50 crore, 12 gold biscuits each weighing 100 grams, and gold and diamond ornaments together weighing about two kilograms were found in the lockers.

–IANS

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