Andhra Pradesh: Municipal official arrested with Rs 500-crore ‘disproportionate assets’

A few days before his retirement, the Andhra Pradesh police arrested a senior official of the municipal department for allegedly amassing assets worth over Rs 500 crore.

Golla Venkata Raghurami Reddy, director of state town planning, who was scheduled to retire after three days, was arrested in Visakhapatnam after police raided his house and other properties, reported Hindustan Times.

Police raided his house and other properties in 15 places including in Maharashtra’s Shirdi.

A report said that Reddy, on his retirement, was planning to throw a grand party to his friends and relatives at a resort abroad. He had even booked flight tickets for them.

"The market value of the assets confiscated so far has been estimated to be around Rs 500 crore," ACB director general RP Thakur told the daily.

Reddy also owns a hotel, Sai Suraj Kunj, in Shirdi and 300 acres of valuable land in Gannavaram near Vijayawada among other properties. 

“We are yet to open the bank lockers of Reddy. Only after that, we would be able to arrive at the magnitude of the wealth,” he added.

“Reddy was arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act for possessing assets disproportionate to his income, which would be around Rs 1 lakh per month. The investigation is going on into the alleged irregularities indulged in by Reddy,” the official added.