ACB officials arrested Venkata Reddy, who worked as the Director of Mines during the YCP government in Hyderabad on Thursday at 9.30 pm and was shifted to Vijayawada. Officials claimed that due to Venkata Reddy’s actions, the government lost Rs. 2,566 crore revenue. On 11th of this month, ACB registered a case against Venkata Reddy on the complaint of mines department officials.
The charges are under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act, Mines and Minerals Act and sections of the IPC including criminal fraud and criminal conspiracy. As he was absconding since the formation of Chandrababu Naidu government, ACB formed teams searching for him in Kadapa, Tirupati, Vijayawada and neighboring states like Telangana, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. There were speculations he had fled abroad.
ACB prevented him from getting anticipatory bail from the court. Some sources said he had bargained with ACB officials and `surrendered’ to them in Hyderabad. In the case registered by ACB, Venkata Reddy is A1.. Anil Atmaram Kamath, representative of Jaiprakash Power Ventures (JPVL) is A2. P. Anilkumar, representative of Pratima Infrastructure Limited as A3 and R. Venkata Krishnareddy, representative of GCKC Projects and Works as A4. Jaiprakash Power Ventures Limited (JPVL) as A5. Pratima Infrastructure Limited, Hyderabad as A6. GCKC Projects and Works Pvt Ltd along with A7 are accused.
There were allegations of irregularities in tenders, contracts, APMMC regulations and sand mining in the mining department during the previous government’s tenure. There are allegations of massive irregularities, corruption and manipulations. The government suspended Venkata Reddy due to this.
Venkata Reddy is a senior civilian staff officer in the Indian Coast Guard. He came to AP on deputation in 2019. Earlier, he held duties in the Education Department. In 2020, he was assigned the responsibility of the Mines Department.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) has registered a case against the then director Venkat Reddy, who turned the mines department into his own empire under the auspices of former CM Jaganmohan Reddy. It is reported that the name of another key official in the Department of Mines is among them.
ACB sources claim that he has caused a direct loss of Rs 800 crores to the exchequer of the state government by colluding with JP Ventures who rigged the sand tenders. Venkata Reddy, who contributed to the looting of thousands of crores of rupees in sand mines allegedly transferred a lion share of it to Tadepalli Palace.
