AP explains why it suspended cop

Explaining the reason for suspending senior IPS officer A.B Venkateswara Rao, former head of the AP Intelligence Wing, the AP government on Monday told the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT) that he had used his office to unduly favour his son’s firm.

The AP government on Monday furnished an affidavit rebutting the allegations of Mr Rao. “His allegations that the government did not give him posting with malafide intention is baseless. Cogent evidence must be given for his allegations and the burden of proof and establishment of malafide lies on him.”

The AP government stated that the Election Commission during the general elections last year had given directions to the then DGP to not assign any election duty to Mr Rao.

Explaining the reasons for placing him under suspension, the government said: “In the process of procurement of aerostat and unmanned aerial vehicles worth `25.50 crore, Mr Rao colluded with an Israeli defence equipment manufacturer called RT Inflatables Private Limited to illegally award critical an intelligence and surveillance contracts to his son Chetan Sai Krishna. His son was the CEO of Akasam Advanced Systems Pvt. Ltd.”