Officials of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) nabbed an Inspector of Survey in the Survey and Land Records Department of Vizianagaram district in Andhra Pradesh, and conducted raids in a disproportionate assets case on Saturday.
The accused, identified as 56-year-old Gedela Lakshmi Ganeswara Rao, was reported to have over Rs 100 crore in assets, that are disproportionate to his income.
Quoting Director-General of ACB RP Thakur, The Hindu reported that Rao was allegedly involved in the tampering of land documents, pertaining to government lands, worth Rs 3,600 crore in Visakhapatnam city.
The ACB officials recovered documents that showed that Rao and his family owned 30.36 acres of agricultural land in East and West Godavari districts, and a few places in north Andhra, besides 19 flats in Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Godavari districts and five house sites, The Hindu report adds.
Central Investigation Unit conducted raids on assets of G. Lakshmi Ganesheswarao, suspended Inspector of Survey and Land Records of Andhra Pradesh. Silver, gold, foreign currency, land documents recovered. He was arrested in August for tampering land documents. pic.twitter.com/FuRc4vi6gJ
— ANI (@ANI) November 18, 2017
Rao is also a repeat offender, as he is already under trial for cases of corruption.
The New Indian Express reported that a disproportionate assets case was registered against Rao by the ACB in Vijayawada in 2009 when he was working as the Machilipatnam survey inspector in Krishna district, and a charge-sheet was also filed against him.
The TNIE report adds that a case had also been registered against Rao, during the Visakhapatnam land scam, being probed by a Special Investigation Team (SIT).
The Visakhapatnam land scam deals with allegations of encroachments over several acres of land and tampering of records, with more than 100 complaints from across the district.
It is reported to involve more than 1,000 acres of land in Madhurawada and Kommadi areas of Visakhapatnam, and had kicked up a political storm in the state when it came to light.
On June 11 this year, days after the scam came to light, the state had formed an SIT consisting of Police, Revenue and Law Department officials.
However, this has not satisfied the Opposition parties, who are demanding a CBI probe into the scam.