Lokayukta directs AP to order CB-CID probe into TD MLC Ashok Babu’s service records

HYDERABAD: Andhra Pradesh Lokayukta Justice P. Lakshman Reddy has directed the AP government to order a CB-CID probe into the service record of P. Ashok Babu, former leader of APNGOs, who is now a Telugu Desam Legislative Council member, on charges of tampering records.

The Lokayukta issued the interim order after hearing a complaint from B. Mehar Kumar, president of AP Commercial Taxes Employees Association, who charged that the MLC’s service record shows him as a commerce graduate despite him not being one. He said that some staff members and officials, who were maintaining service records, were manipulated into entering wrong information about Ashok Babu’s academic qualifications.

Justice Lakshman Reddy called for a report from the special CS of the commercial taxes department. After pursuing his report, he said that it can be logically concluded that the wrong entry relates to Ashok Babu’s BCom qualification and it was struck down later as this was fraught with serious consequences.

Though the action of striking down entries cannot be attributed to any particular person at this stage, it was obviously done at the behest of Ashok Babu as that wrong entry could emerge as incriminating evidence against him in the future, Justice Lakshman Reddy said.