Karimnagar, October 12: A government school teacher of the assistant cadre, J Ravinder Rao, was arrested by Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths at Jagtial today for owning disproportionate assets. Assets with a registered value of Rs 1 crore were seized from him but their actual market value would be about Rs 4 crore, ACB DSP Jaipal told Express.
Ravinder Rao joined as a special grade teacher (SGT) in the education department in 1996 and was promoted as school assistant two years ago. He is presently working at the Velgonda government high school in Dharmapuri mandal in Karimnagar district.
Nearly three months ago, ACB detectives raided and arrested a forest officer, Vijayananda Rao, for owning disproportionate assets. During searches at Vijayananda Rao’s house, Ravinder Rao’s name figured in several business tie-ups and the ACB has been monitoring the school assistant’s assets since then.
Ravinder Rao was reportedly quizzed by ACB personnel once but was let off owing to political pressure. However, they raided his residence in Jagtial and discovered his disproportionate assets. Meanwhile, Ravinder Rao maintained that he would account for all the assets and claimed to have been paying income tax. But ACB officials said he could not give any satisfactory answers to their questions.
Ravinder Rao was in possession of eight plots and three houses in Karimnagar district, one flat in Hyderabad, a four-storeyed school building in Karimnagar and 10- acre agricultural land. Apart from these, he was found having gold worth Rs 3.11 lakh, net cash of Rs 1.27 lakh, household articles worth Rs 95,100. The total value of these assets would be Rs 1.22 crore, ACB officials said.
Meanwhile, sub-inspector Peddi Reddy Ramachandra Rao and constable K Laxmi Narayan Reddy of Thimmapuram police station in East Godavari district were caught while taking a bribe of Rs 4,000 yesterday late night. Ramachandra Rao demanded the money from a person to register a case on the complaint of a person. The money was taken by the constable on the direction of the SI, an ACB release said.
The SI and constable were arrested and produced before a special court for ACB cases in Vijayawada.
–Agencies