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Bail for Fisheries Department official

Special Correspondent

‘No one involved in handing over work to Suryanarayana would be spared’

V. Suryanarayana

VIJAYAWADA/HYDERABAD: Velugubanti Suryanarayana, the tainted official of the Fisheries Department who was arrested on December 12 on the charges of graft by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), was released from jail on Thursday on bail, as the ACB failed to file a charge-sheet in 60 days.

However, the State government claimed that no one involved in handing over work to Suryanarayana would be spared. Fisheries Minister Mandali Buddha Prasad told the State Legislative Council that action would be initiated against the guilty once the Justice Panduranga Rao Committee gave its report.

Suryanarayana was in judicial remand in the district jail in Vijayawada for two months. Earlier, the ACB & SPE court rejected his bail plea thrice before. Judge V. Chandrasekharan granted a conditional bail to Suryanarayana, as the ACB could not file the charge-sheet even after 60 days of his arrest.

Suryanarayana would have to appear before the Deputy Superintendent of Police of the ACB at Rajahmundry twice a day, submit a security bond for Rs. 50,000, surety from two individuals, besides surrendering his passport to the court. Speaking to presspersons outside the jail, Suryanarayana reiterated that all the property he possessed belonged to his wife which was presented to her by her parents at the time of marriage.

“As the land value has gone up manifold in the last two decades, there is a steep increase in the value of the assets,” he reasoned.

The Minister, in response to a question raised by Puvvada Nageswara Rao (CPI), said that it was he who issued an order that no work should be entrusted to Suryanarayana because of allegations against him. It was surprising that no public representative had ever complained against Suryanarayana all these years.

Poor quality

Mr. Prasad also said that he had complained against the poor quality of work executed by Suryanarayana in his constituency in Krishna district, but it went in vain as the then TDP government did not take any action.

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