Office attender caught with assets worth ₹90 crore

HYDERABAD: The Anti-corruption Bureau (ACB) in Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday arrested an office attendant in the transport department in Nellore for allegedly amassing assets worth nearly ₹90 crore, police said in a statement.

The day-long raids by ACB officials at the residence of Karadu Narasimha Reddy, 55, an attender in the office of the deputy transport commissioner, revealed he owns 18 flats in Nellore, besides 50.36 acres of agricultural land bought in the name of family members and gold ornaments weighing nearly 2kg, besides huge quantity of silver idols and utensils weighing 7kg, police said. Authorities unearthed insurance deposits worth ₹1.1 crore and other insurance policies worth ₹10 lakh. They also found ₹7.5 lakh cash in the drawer of his office table — all in denominations of ₹2,000 and ₹500. Police said they had also opened a couple of lockers in Reddy’s name in a cooperative bank, details of which were still being assessed.

Reddy, who started as an attender in 1984 on ₹650 salary, currently gets a monthly salary of around ₹40,000. “He continued in the same post for the last 34 years. He even rejected promotions fearing that he might get transferred elsewhere and he might lose the channels of collecting bribes,” an ACB official said on condition of anonymity.

The official added that Reddy told ACB officials that the assets belonged to him and he had not inherited properties from anybody. Asked how he managed to amass so much wealth, Reddy said he used to get bribes from check posts and also in office. He was also lending money to several people, including public representatives, at high interest rates .

The raids were led by deputy superintendent Rama Devi. “Once we assess the contents of his two bank lockers, maybe they would reveal more assets,” said Andhra Pradesh ACB director general RP Thakur.

THE ATTENDER IN

THE TRANSPORT DEPT OWNS 18 FLATS IN POSH LOCALITIES OF NELLORE, BESIDES 50.36 ACRES OF AGRICULTURAL LAND