Nellore: With salary of Rs 40,000, peon builds penthouse, amasses crores; finally arrested

An office attendant working with the Andhra Pradesh transport department was arrested on Tuesday by the state ACB after it was found that he had amassed Rs 10 crore worth of property, the Indian Express reported.

According to the report, K Narasimha Reddy who was working as an office subordinate and attendant in the office of Deputy Transport Commissioner, Nellore District as Office Subordinate cum Attendant, had a monthly income of less than Rs 40,000 per month.  He came to the special attention of ACB officers when he purchased his 18th piece of land recently. ACB had been tracking him after land records started getting digitized.

Reddy, an enthusiast of hand-crafted silver ornaments including idols and artistic pieces had first come under scrutiny after placing orders for dozens of silver items weighing in total over seven kg and purchase of gold ornaments from showrooms at Vijayawada.

Officers who raided his house in Nellore City recovered documents of 18 plots which were registered in his name, his wife, and relatives. The officials also recovered Rs 7.70 lakh cash and Rs 20 lakhs in his bank accounts, gold ornaments weighing two kgs, deposits in LIC of over Rs one crore and over 50 acres of agricultural land. All the residential plots he had purchased were of over 250 sq yards.

“Officials said Reddy started purchasing plots in Nellore Rural Mandal since 1992 and in the last ten years, he had amassed gold and silver ornaments. He lives in a 3,300 square feet two-storey plus penthouse building at M V Agraharam in Nellore city. The market value of the 18 residential plots and over 50 acres of agricultural land could be over Rs 10 crores,” the report added.