Sheep Scam: ACB to Grill Talasani’s OSD, Others

Hyderabad: The Anti-Corruption Bureau, which has concluded that a Rs.700 crore fund “diversion” took place in the state’s sheep purchase scam during the BRS rule, is trying to ascertain the role of former minister Talasani Srinivas Yadav's Officer on Duty (OSD) in this huge scam.

It is believed that Srinivas Yadav’s OSD G. Kalyan Kumar and some other officers influenced the staff in committing the grave offence. Srinivas Yadav was holding charge of the animal husbandry department at that time. The ACB arrested the accused a few days ago.

The agency now sought court permission for the police custody of the accused officers —Sabavath Ramchander, the CEO of Telangana Livestock Development Agency, and Kalyan Kumar — for questioning them.

The ACB confirmed the fraud after its preliminary investigations. It found that funds of at least Rs.700 crore from the animal husbandry department were diverted illegally, on the pretext of sheep purchase from farmers, at different places.

Kalyan Kumar as the minister’s OSD influenced senior officers and staff and accepted mamools, the investigations revealed.

The ACB noted that over Rs.700 crore in funds was diverted to private accounts in the fictitious names of ‘farmers’. It is yet to be ascertained, however, as to which all fictitious accounts were used to divert funds and where this money reached.

The BRS government, in its first term, implemented the scheme to provide sheep to farmers. The aim, it had said, was to increase meat exports from Telangana and find a source of income to the state’s farmers.

As part of this plan, the BRS government released the funds to purchase sheep from Guntur in AP and distribute them to farmers in Telangana. However, through this process, Sabavath Ramchander and Kalyan Kumar allegedly colluded with government officers and middlemen in creating fake and fictitious names and accounts, and diverted the funds.

As per the case, these officers directed the district joint directors of the animal husbandry department to facilitate misappropriation of government money by private individuals who were close to them.

The ACB told the court that it intends to question the accused officers so that it could obtain leads in the case. It noted that the two key accused in the case were absconding.