HYDERABAD: The recent arrest of senior IAS officer B P Acharya in the Emaar-APIIC properties scam has come as a major embarrassment for the Congress party in the state, especially because he was heading the key post of Managing Director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Ltd (APIIC) during Y S Rajasekhara Reddy’s regime. More arrests of a few serving and retired bureaucrats and some high profile Congress leaders, who enjoyed tremendous power during YSR Reddy’s reign appears to be in the offing. On Saturday, senior IAS officer K Ratnaprabha was questioned by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Ratnaprabha, a Karnataka-cadre IAS officer, was the secretary of Information Technology and Communications Department in the YSR regime.
Sources say that Acharya simply followed the orders of his political bosses while effecting the dilution of the APIIC stake. It is learnt that he has reportedly told the CBI that dilution of APIIC’s stake was not his decision alone. Named accused No.1 in the scam, Acharya has already been questioned a few times.
Acharya is alleged to have abused his official position by corrupt and illegal means and he knowingly and intentionally did not object to the sale of villa plots at rates much higher than shown in documents. It is alleged that the difference in the amounts was pocketed by private firms and individuals at cost to the state exchequer.