ACB raids Andhra official’s places, seize documents worth

Visakhapatnam: The Anti-Corruption Bureau today raided various places of a motor vehicle inspector attached to State Road Transport Authority and seized documents detailing the market value of properties linked to him and his kin, to the tune of Rs 35 crore.

The ACB is verifying whether the properties are disproportionate to the known sources of income of the officer identified as J Bala Nayak, posted at Srikakulam, who was arrested following the simultaneous raids in three districts.

“The Central Investigation Unit of the agency raided places of J Bala Nayak in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam and seized various documents,” said Ramadevi, deputy superintendent, Central Investigation Unit, ACB.

“The value of the properties is Rs 3 crore on paper but their market value is estimated to be over Rs 35 crore,” she said.

The officer said Nayak has two granite factories at Bhogapuram area in Vizianagaram district.

“While one granite unit is in the name of Nayak’s wife, another is under joint ownership of his wife and her brother,” the Dy SP said, adding that the finished stock at these factories is estimated to be about Rs 1.5 crore.

“The seized documents show (ownership of) 17 plots of land in Vizag, Vizianagaram, Guntur, Krishna, Prakasam and Ranga Reddy districts in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana,” Ramadevi said, adding that Nayak also owns a three-storey house at Muralinagar area here.

Giving further details, she said, “The ACB has also seized cash worth Rs 9.5 lakh collectively during the raids, besides bank passbooks showing a balance of Rs 9.5 lakh, silver ornaments weighing 8 kg, gold jewellery weighing 1.2 kgs and three cars”.

The officer has registered most of the property in names of his wife and brother-in-law.

Further investigation is on, she added.