HYDERABAD: Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) Limited General Manager (Civil) K. Venkateshwara Rao was arrested by the CBI on Saturday for allegedly accepting a bribe of `15 lakh. Based on a tip-off, Venkateshwara Rao was caught redhanded at a shopping mall in Secunderabad while accepting bribe of `15 lakh for clearing pending bills to the tune of `1.5 crore, out of a total contract value of `11 crore.
A case under Section 120-B (criminal conspiracy) of the IPC and Section 7, 12, 13 (2) read with 13(1) (d) of Prevention Corruption Act 1988, was registered against him.
Preliminary inquiry revealed that Venkateshwara Rao was indulging in corrupt practices and was actively involved in awarding contracts to various contractors after collecting huge bribe amounts.
Recently, RITES Ltd. had awarded contract works to KVR Infrastructure Ltd. represented by M Raj Kumar from Dindigul in Tamil Nadu for `11 crore and presently the sixth RA bill amounting to `1.5 crore was pending clearance.
Venkateshwara Rao demanded `15 lakh for clearing the pending bill and Raj Kumar deputed his Project Manager Shankar to deliver the amount demanded by Rao, CBI officials said.
A trap was laid and Rao was caught red-handed while accepting the bribe. Both Rao and Shankar were arrested. The CBI teams have conducted searches on the residence of Venkateswara Rao at Kompally and at his office in Secunderabad and the hotel room of Shankar.
Both Rao and Shankar were arrested and would be produced before the court.