T'gana official sent to judicial custody in DA case

A city court on Thursday sent Mutyam Venkata Ramana, Divisional Engineer of the Telangana Renewable Energy Development Corporation (TGREDCO), to judicial custody for 14 days in a disproportionate assets case.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which arrested the accused official on Wednesday, produced him before the Principal Special Judge for SPE and ACB Cases.

After the court remanded him to judicial custody for two weeks, he was shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail.

The ACB arrested Venkata Ramana after simultaneous searches at his residence, office and seven other premises linked to his relatives, associates and alleged benami holders.

The anti-graft agency unearthed four residential flats in Serilingampally and Kukatpally valued at Rs 1.23 crore, a G+3 commercial building at Anjaneya Nagar, Kukatpally worth Rs 1.82 crore, and a G+5 commercial building at Guttala Begumpet valued at Rs 2.90 crore.

The ACB officials also found bank deposits of Rs 52.02 lakh, 2,094 grams of gold ornaments valued at around Rs 40 lakh, three vehicles worth about Rs 45 lakh, and household articles and electronic gadgets worth approximately Rs 30 lakh.

The total value of assets detected during the searches was estimated at Rs 27.65 crore.

The ACB said the market value of the properties is expected to be significantly higher than their official valuation.

This was the second time that the official was arrested by the ACB. He was earlier arrested in December 2019 while serving as Divisional Engineer (Technical), Cyber City Circle, Hyderabad, in a trap case for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000. Searches conducted then resulted in the seizure of Rs 26.52 lakh in cash and gold ornaments worth Rs 22.60 lakh.

According to the ACB, the total value of assets linked to the officer, including those detected during the earlier case and the latest searches, has been estimated at Rs 28.14 crore.

The investigation in the latest case revealed that substantial investments had allegedly been made through four construction firms registered in the name of Venkata Ramana’s wife. The firms had constructed 10 residential apartments at Anjaneya Nagar, Moosapet, with an estimated investment of Rs 20 crore.

The ACB officials, during the searches on Wednesday, also seized 20 liquor bottles, including 19 foreign liquor bottles and one IMFL bottle, valued at around Rs 2.5 lakh. A separate case has been registered by the Madhapur Excise Department.