After one year of coming to power, the Chandrababu Naidu-led coalition government has dropped all further actions against retired IPS officer and former intelligence chief AB Venkateswara Rao, months after the High Court quashed an FIR and a chargesheet filed against him by the previous government.
It may be recalled that he was the victimized police officer during YS Jaganmohan Reddy regime, suspending him twice, making him wait without any post and non-payment of salaries, ignoring directions from courts also. Rao, an Additional Director General of Police officer, had been booked under charges including criminal conspiracy and cheating and provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Though he was able to get a posting on the last day of his retirement, on the directions from AP High Court, it took months for the present government to come to his rescue. Moreover, he was also kept away from the corridor of power, though the previous government harassed him suspecting his proximity with Chandrababu Naidu.
Rao fought against injustice accorded by the previous government lonely approaching higher courts and with uncompromising legal battles. Rao had challenged his suspension in the High Court, the Supreme Court and the Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT), which quashed his suspension and directed the YSRCP government to reinstate him. He was reinstated on May 31, 2024, and he retired the same day.
The YSRCP government had also filed a chargesheet against him in a local court in Vijayawada on May 18, 2024, in an alleged corruption case. However, both the FIR and the chargesheet were quashed by the High Court, said a government order issued on Tuesday.
Chief secretary K Vijayanand, in the order, said the TDP-led NDA government has reviewed the matter and come to the conclusion that it was not a fit case to file a special leave petition in the Supreme Court. “The government has therefore decided to drop further action against Rao,” said Vijayanand in the order.
The previous government had also alleged that Rao was involved in irregularities in the purchase of surveillance equipment from an Israeli firm and in the award of a contract to a firm owned by his son. This January, the TDP-led NDA government regularised Rao’s suspension and recognised it as time spent on duty. It enabled him to receive full pay for being on suspension from February 8, 2020, to February 7, 2022, and from June 28, 2022, to May 30, 2024.
