HYDERABAD: Call it harassment or the humiliation that comes with being involved in an investigation, a few accused officials, including a DSP-rank officer of the Anti Corruption Bureau (ACB), died/killed themselves during the course of investigations taken up by the Bureau.
While DSP-rank officer Pratap died of a cardiac arrest shortly after facing an internal probe within the Bureau, two other accused officials, including the husband of a tahsildar, who were questioned by the ACB, died by suicide.
A total of three persons have killed themselves, or tried to, in the last few months in the city after being investigated by the ACB. Most recently, Erva Baswaraj Nagaraj, former Keesara tahsildar, who was the key accused in a bribery case, allegedly died by suicide inside the jail he was lodged in, just hours after being questioned by a team of ACB officials.
According to sources, the ACB is currently probing four major cases in the city, namely the IMS fraud, former Malkajgiri ACP Y Narasimha Reddy’s illegal assets case, former Keesara tahsildar’s illegal assets case, and former Medak Additional Collector Gaddam Nagesh’s corruption case.
Apart from these four cases, the ACB officials had also probed the Shakipet Tahsildar Ch Sujatha’s corruption case. During the course of investigation, her husband Vijay Kumar jumped off a building in an alleged suicide attempt. Former joint director of IMS Dr K Padma attempted suicide, but was rescued after she received medical assistance in time.
However, when Express contacted officials in prisons where a few accused officers attempted suicide, they said that the inmates in question were depressed because of the case proceedings.