ELURU: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) sleuths on Monday unearthed and seized assets worth `6 cr from several houses of West Godavari District Panchayat Officer (DPO) L Sridhar Reddy in various districts in the State which they raided simultaneously, according to ACB Deputy Superintendent of Poice K Rajendra Rao.
Briefing newsmen on the raids here on Monday evening, he said that following complaints of corruption against the DPO, the ACB conducted raids on his office here and various houses, many of them held by his proxies, and those of his relatives at nine places in the State, during which the assets were unearthed and seized.
In Eluru, the ACB team raided the District Panchayat Office, where the accused worked, and two houses - a flat in New Ashok Nagar and another flat (held by his proxy) at Pathebada.
The other houses of the accused that were raided by the ACB were in Tanuku (held by his proxy V Gopala Rao, a retired Gram Panchayat Secretary), Vijayawada, Nellore, Kadapa (‘owned’ by his uncle P Obul Reddy), Rayachoti in Kadapa district (which was in the name of his father L Krishna Reddy) and Hyderabad (‘owned’ by his brother Raja Krishna Reddy).
The ACB sleuths also seized several incriminating documents from each place that they raided, the ACB DSP said.
He further said that Sridhar Reddy, who had taken charge as the District Panchayat Officer here in November 2014, had amassed huge assets within a year. Two officials of the District Panchayat Office here had abetted him in the crime, he said and added that they were now on leave.
Stating that the raids were still on at several places, Rao added that the bank lockers of the accused were yet to be opened and examined. He said that they had registered a case against the DPO.