Top Andhra official held for corruption

Hyderabad, May 4: The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Andhra Pradesh Tuesday arrested a top official in Hyderabad for possessing assets disproportionate to his income.Sleuths of the ACB searched the office and residences of Ranga Reddy district Joint Collector M. Jaganmohan and recovered assets worth over a staggering Rs.20 crore. Jaganmohan, promoted from the state service to the Indian Administrative Service (IAS), was arrested after series of raids on his office and residences in Hyderabad and other parts of Andhra Pradesh. ACB officials said he would be presented before a magistrate. During the raids, which began early Tuesday morning at his residence in the posh Banjara Hills, ACB officials recovered 1.5 kg gold, Rs.15 lakh in cash, documents relating to payment of Rs.10 lakh as premium of insurance policies. ACB Joint Director Sampat Kumar told reporters that Jaganmohan owns two independent houses, four flats and land at six places in and around Hyderabad. ACB officials said they were yet to open three bank lockers of the joint collector and verify his bank accounts. They said the ACB registered a case against the joint collector for having assets disproportionate to his known source of income. The raids were conducted by the ACB on a complaint that the joint collector is involved in corruption. Jaganmohan, a state cadre official who was promoted to IAS rank, is one of the top officials to be arrested for graft in recent months. In February this year, Andhra Pradesh assembly special secretary K. Gopalakrishna was arrested by the ACB for corruption and assets worth Rs.15 crore were seized from him. In 2008, the ACB arrested fisheries department executive engineer V. Suryanarayana and recovered assets worth Rs.30 crore from him.
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