4 Flats, High end cars and Investments: TGREDCO officer arrested for assets worth Rs 150 crore
The Telangana Anti-Corruption Bureau arrested and registered a disproportionate asset case against Mutyam Venkata Ramana, a divisional engineer of the Telangana Renewable Energy Development Corporation(TGREDCO), Khairtabad, Hyderabad. He will be produced before the Principal Special Judge for SPE and ACB cases, Hyderabad, for judicial remand.
Simultaneous searches were conducted at his residences, offices and seven other premises linked to his relatives, associates and alleged benami holders on Wednesday. The agency alleged that the officer possessed substantial wealth through corrupt practices during his service, accounting for more than his known sources of income .Assets worth an estimated market value of rupees hundred to 150 crores were unearthed during the raid.
During the search, ACB officials reportedly unearthed four residential flats in Serilingampally and Kukatpally that valued Rs 1.23 crores, a G-plus-3 commercial building at Anjaneya Nagar, Kukatpally worth Rs 1.82 crores, and a G-plus-5 commercial building at Guttala Begumpet valued Rs 2.90 crores. Additionally, bank deposits of Rs 52.02 lakhs and 2,094 grams of gold ornaments which are valued at Rs 40 lakh were seized. Besides, three vehicles valued at Rs 45 lakhs and lot of articles and electronic gadgets valued approximately Rs 30 lakhs were seized.
As the investigation deepened, substantial investments that had allegedly been made through four construction firms registered in the name of officers’ wive also surfaced. The firms had constructed ten residential apartments at Anjaneya Nagar, Moosapet, with an estimated investment of Rs 20 crores. Investigating officers claim the market value of the properties is expected to be significantly higher than the official value. The total value of the assets detected during the searches was totaled to Rs 27.65 crores.
Further,, 20 liquor bottles including 19 of those from foreign countries and one IMFL bottle valued at Rs 2.5 lakh were seized. A separate case has been registered at Madhapur Excise department in connection to the seizure of liquor bottles.
The investigation was launched under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, after the JCB gathered evidences indicating that he had amassed substantial wealth.
This is not the first time Mutyam Venkata has been arrested. He was earlier arrested in December 2019 while he served as the divisional engineer in Cyber City Circle, Hyderabad, in a trap case for allegedly demanding and accepting bribe of Rs 25,000. According to the investigating officers, Rs 26.52 lakh in cash and gold ornaments worth Rs 22.60 lakh were seized in the earlier case. A charge sheet was subsequently filed.