Telangana official sent to judicial custody in Disproportionate Assets case

HYDERABAD: An ACB court on Wednesday sent a top official of Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board to judicial custody for 14 days in a Disproportionate Assets case.

The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which registered a case against S.A. Laxmi Kumar and arrested him on Tuesday, produced him before the court.

After the court remanded him to judicial custody, he was shifted to Chanchalguda Central Prison.

Laxmi Kumar, General Manager (Engg.), Project Division-VIII, Red Hills, HMWS&SB, was booked after assets of over Rs.5.88 crore were found during searches at premises linked to him.

According to the ACB, he acquired assets disproportionate to his known sources of income by indulging in corrupt practices and dubious means during his service.

As this is an offence punishable under Section 13 (1) (b) and 12 922) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (as amended in 2018), searches were conducted on May 1 at his residence and eight other places belonging to his relatives, friends, benamis and other associates, the ACB said in a release.

The anti-graft agency stated that during the searches, documents relating to 18 acres agricultural land in Nizamabad and Sangareddy, six open plots, three flats and one house in Hyderabad were found.