Telangana irrigation scam: Former Engineer-in-Chief sent to 14-day judicial custody in DA case
Hyderabad: A court here on Wednesday sent former Engineer-in-Chief of Telangana’s Irrigation Department C. Muralidhar Rao to judicial custody for 14 days in a disproportionate assets case.
The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), which arrested Rao on Tuesday, produced him before the ACB court.
After hearing arguments from both sides, the magistrate sent him to judicial custody. He was subsequently shifted to Chanchalguda Central Jail.
The anti-graft agency has registered a Disproportionate Assets (DA) case against the former Engineer-in-Chief.
ACB officials conducted searches at his residence and 11 other places linked to him and his relatives.
They identified several movable and immovable properties, including one villa, four flats, four open plots, one commercial building, 6500 square yards of open land in prime locations in Hyderabad and its surroundings.
According to ACB, Muralidhar Rao’s properties also included 11 acres of agricultural land, one Solar Power Project (2 KV) at Zaheerabad, one commercial building in Karimnagar, one apartment in Kodad, one under-construction apartment in Warangal, along with three four-wheelers. Gold ornaments and bank deposits were also unearthed.
The ACB said it was conducting a further investigation into the case.
Muralidhar Rao’s arrest followed searches at 11 locations in Hyderabad, Karimnagar, and Zaheerabad.
The agency conducted raids on the premises of Rao, his family members and relatives.
Rao had served as Engineer-in-Chief for a decade during the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) rule. He was asked to resign in February 2024, following the Vigilance Department’s investigation into the sinking of piers at the Medigadda barrage, a part of the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project.
Rao retired in 2013 in undivided Andhra Pradesh but got multiple extensions. His arrest by the ACB comes amid the ongoing investigation into the alleged irregularities in the Kaleshwaram project.
Rao’s arrest is part of the ongoing drive against corruption in the Irrigation Department, especially against those officers who were linked to the Kaleshwaram project.
In April, the ACB arrested Bhookya Hari Ram, the former Engineer-in-Chief associated with the Kaleshwaram project, after uncovering assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The ACB raids were said to be based on the National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) report concerning the Kaleshwaram project. The report exposed serious flaws in the project’s design, construction and maintenance.
Hari Ram is said to have played a key role in the construction and execution of the project.
Last month, the ACB arrested Irrigation Executive Engineer (EE) Nune Sridhar, who allegedly amassed huge properties. He too was associated with the multi-crore Kaleshwaram project.
Sridhar was associated with work on three packages of the project.
