Special Chief Secretary Arvind Kumar Under ACB Radar Amidst Bribery Allegations by Town Planning Official
HYDERABAD: Special chief secretary Arvind Kumar has come under the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB) radar following the claims of alleged undue favours extended to various builders by arrested town planning official Shiva Balakrishna, who confessed to have amassed wealth with the “support of Arvind Kumar who in turn also took favours and earned huge money for himself.”
The confession statement of Balakrishna, submitted before the ACB court, had startling revelations about the duo sanctioning building and change of land use permissions to top builders after allegedly taking bribes of crores of rupees. The ACB had arrested Balakrishna on January 24 and secured his custody for eight days for questioning on January 31.
Highly placed sources in the government said the investigating agency had been asked to widen its scope of probe to establish the veracity of the confession made by Balakrishna vis-à-vis payments made to Arvind Kumar.
The role of infra companies like Quorizon Spaces, SS Constructions, Udaya SSV Project, Salarpuriya Sattva, Sai Sandeep Infra Projects and Prime Land Properties which got the benefits, and alleged conduits identified as Ranga, Ramesh, Madhav Reddy, Sarathi and Sudhakar, would be probed thoroughly, official sources told Deccan Chronicle. According to Balakrishna, the conduits used to collect bribe money given by builders from him on behalf of his senior officer.
In the case of Udaya SSV Project, Narsingi, the builders submitted a plan for construction of a multi-storied building on 12 acres. A dispute was pending for a long period and the HMDA top brass resolved the issue in November-December 2023 when the state machinery was busy with the Assembly polls and counting of votes. The plan was released accordingly with the alleged active involvement of HMDA secretary Chandraiah. Balakrishna claimed that a bribe amount of Rs 1 crore was collected.
In another case, according to the statement, the duo cleared a file regarding land conversion in less than two acres in Bachupally sometime in the middle of 2023. Balakrishna confessed that one Q. Rahul had paid a bribe of Rs 1 crore at the RERA office, claiming that the amount was demanded by the senior official. In another case, a clarification was needed for a property in East/West Marredpally for which a bribe amount of Rs 50 lakh was collected.
The jailed town planning official also confessed that Arvind Kumar extended help to the Salarpuriya Sattva project in Kokapet and one person identifying himself as Amit was in regular touch during December, 2022. A bribe amount of Rs 35 lakh was collected.
In another case, according to the confession statement, a bribe amount of Rs 40 lakh was collected by Balakrishna who claimed to have handed it over at a residence on the B.R. Ambedkar Open University campus.
For the benefits extended to Sai Sandeep Infra and Prime Land Properties, the developer allegedly gifted plots in their venture at Kandi Mandal to Balakrishna who got them registered in the name of his nephew Bharani. Plots were registered in the name of a benami of a senior officer in the same venture.
Balakrishna claimed that the senior official would send details of persons on whose name the plots should be registered, through WhatsApp. “Neither the sale consideration nor even the registration charges were paid to these plots,” he said in the confession statement recorded at around 1 pm on February 6 in the presence of ACB officials and mediators.
Balakrishna also said SS Constructions which recorded abnormal growth in its portfolio enjoyed a special privilege as its proposals had always been cleared on war footing. “Whenever the proposals of SS Constructions and Quorizon Spaces came to my knowledge I used to issue immediately without any delay,” said Balakrishna.
The firms were allowed to pay the building construction permission fee in instalments instead of payment at one go. “Y. Madhu, partner in the two firms, gifted me Tata Nexon bearing number TS07JN3741 registered in the name of my relatives,” said Balakrishna in the statement.