HYDERABAD: The ACB on Friday conducted searches at various places after registering a case of disproportionate assets against HMDA director (planning) K. Purushotham Reddy on Friday. The officer was in charge of permitting layouts.
His house at Sagar Society in Banjara Hills and that of his brother-in-law, Srinivas Reddy at Sunderlal Colony were locked. Both houses were sealed after obtaining permission of the court.
After raids at 12 places related to the officer, the ACB seized assets that were valued at Rs 25 crore.
A case had been lodged against him in 2009, but was closed after the government refused to give permission to prosecute.
HMDA sources said he had not returned from leave after January 28.
Searches were conducted at Reddy’s office, the houses of his daughters, parents and friends. The ACB identified a three-storey building at Moosapet, a commercial complex at Ameerpet, and two others at Ameerpet crossroads that he partly owns, as belonging to Mr Reddy.
Houses sealed; cops suspect bro-in-law to be complicit
ACB also found that he owned a 500 square yard piece of land at Gandipet. His assets include a car, insurance policies of Rs 25 lakh and bank balance of Rs 20 lakh. The assets were valued totally at Rs 25 crore.
ACB officials say the properties were amassed between 2010 and 2018.
ACB officials believe that the officer’s brother-in-law Srinivas Reddy and some others are his benamis. “The searches at both the houses will be conducted in the presence of Purush-otham Reddy and Srinivas Reddy. Until they appear before us, the houses will be sealed,” ACB DSP, Hyde-rabad, Ashok Kumar said.
In 2009, a similar case was registered against Purushotham Reddy and a detailed report was sent to the government. At that time, it was found that a large part of Mr Reddy’s “income” was invested in land and houses in upmarket localities such as Banjara Hills and Ameerpet, and on the city’s outskirts, and in gold and diamond jewellery worth '15 lakh. The documented value of the property was Rs 1.2 crore, but the market value was estimated to be over Rs 15 crore. The ACB could not pursue the case as the government did not give permission to prosecute and the case was closed in 2012.
There were several complaints of corruption against Mr Reddy who was in charge of sanctioning layouts.
