ACB nabs two at Telangana Secretariat for Rs 1 lakh bribe

Questions are being raised over how two relatively junior employees came to demand such a large sum, with ACB officials suspecting the involvement of higher-ups.

Hyderabad: Two employees were caught red-handed by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) at the Telangana Secretariat on Thursday, September 10, while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 1 lakh linked to a Chief Minister’s Relief Fund (CMRF) claim.

The accused have been identified as A Raghavender, an outsourcing employee in the Secretariat’s Revenue Department, and Medi Vinod, a senior assistant at the Telangana State Industrial Development Corporation (TSIDC), Parishrama Bhavan, Basheerbagh. According to the ACB, the two had demanded the money from a complainant to issue a cheque for Rs 2 lakh already sanctioned under the CMRF and to process a further medical reimbursement claim.

The ACB said Raghavender had earlier taken Rs 5,000 from the complainant through Vinod via a digital transaction. On Thursday, Vinod allegedly accepted the Rs 1 lakh bribe and passed it to Raghavender at a temple within the Secretariat premises, where a trap laid by ACB officials caught them in the act.

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The cash was seized and both men were taken to the Nampally ACB office for questioning. They were later produced before the special court for ACB cases and remanded to judicial custody.

Searches ordered amid suspicion of larger role

Questions are being raised over how two relatively junior employees came to demand such a large sum, with ACB officials suspecting the involvement of higher-ups. The bureau has since conducted searches at the Secretariat, and further details are expected to emerge from that exercise.

According to Deccan Chronicle, the office of Transport and BC Welfare Minister Ponnam Prabhakar has also come under scrutiny in connection with the case, with some staff suspected of having handed over the CMRF cheque to Raghavender to negotiate with the complainant.

The ACB has urged citizens to report bribe demands by public servants on its toll-free helpline, 1064.