The Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Telangana conducted a series of high-profile raids on Friday, raiding the office of a Sub-Registrar in Hanamkonda, Warangal district's office and residence and others in the district during a series of raids to collect huge amounts of money, gold jewellery and documents of key property documents.
At the same time, simultaneous raids reveal huge assets. Based on specific information about financial irregularities and the accumulation of assets beyond the sources of possible income, several ACB teams stormed the Sub-Registrar’s office and his private residence.
At the Sub-Registrar’s office, the officials recovered ₹47,450 in unaccounted cash. But the scale of the discovery grew considerably when investigators went to the official’s residence and found ₹24.61 lakh in liquid cash hidden on the premises.
Banking and Document Discrepancies
In addition to physical cash, the ACB probed the official's financial holdings and documentation. Some of the main findings from the raid are:
- Fixed Deposits: Fixed deposit receipts of ₹30.1 lakh in various bank accounts were found.
- Gold and jewelry: A significant amount of gold ornaments were seized and the value of which is currently being appraised by government-approved valuators.
- Document Irregularities: Perhaps most significantly, the office search revealed a huge backlog and possible procedural violations. 70 unregistered documents and 204 registered documents were at the office without any logical reasons or delivery to the rightful owners.
Investigation and Custody
The ACB has taken the Sub-Registrar into custody for further questioning. According to the bureau, such a large number of pending and unregistered documents indicate a pattern of deliberate delays, often used as a way to extract bribes from the public.
The raid is in line with our ongoing effort to eradicate grassroots corruption in high-interaction departments like Revenue and Registrations, said a senior ACB officer. A case of Disproportionate Assets (DA) will be registered after the inventory is complete.
Such incidents have resonated with the local administration in Warangal as investigators investigate the source of the funds and whether the property documents they were recovered are genuine.
