HYDERABAD: Telangana University Vice-Chancellor Dachepalli Ravinder Gupta was caught red-handed by the ACB sleuths while he was allegedly taking a bribe of Rs 50,000, at his residence in Tarnaka here on Saturday.
He was taking the bribe to consider a request for the allotment of an examination centre to a college.
The ACB sleuths also raided his office and seized some files. He is the first V-C to have been trapped by the ACB.
The complainant, Dasari Shankar, approached the ACB after the V-C put forth his demand for a bribe. He told the ACB sleuths that the V-C had made the demand when he sought an examination centre for his college in Bheemgal.
Gupta who was appointed V-C of Telangana University (TU) two years back, has one more year left for his retirement. The controversial V-C faced corruption allegations. Ever since he took over as the V-C, he never had good relations with executive council (EC) members. He changed six registrars. There were instances of those who suffered because of him moving the court against him.
Apart from this, he also faced allegations in the appointment of outsourced employees, promotions, clearing bills, and the appointment of daily wage labourers, purchases for the university, renovation of V-C Lodge, and so on. There was an allegation that he had collected a huge amount of money in the appointment of outsourced employees.
Two years ago, while addressing a dharna in Dichpally, YSR Telangana Party founder YS Sharmila alleged that Ravinder got the post by giving Rs 2 crore to the ruling party and was now trying to recover the amount through questionable methods.
Recently a controversy erupted between EC and V-C. The EC appointed a committee to inquire into the V-C’s decisions including financial matters. Against this backdrop, the state Vigilance and Enforcement Department began a probe into the affairs of the university.