Last Saturday, a Deputy Commercial Tax Officer (DCTO) was caught demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs. 1.5 lakh from a jeweller for releasing the seized ledger and cash book. A couple of days ago, a deputy tahsildar was arrested for possessing assets worth over Rs. 10 crore as per market value. In both cases, the accused were nabbed by the sleuths of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB).
The ACB in Andhra Pradesh (then unified) came into existence on January 2, 1961 with the sole purpose of fighting corruption in various departments of the government by exercising the provisions under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
ACB is directly under the control of General Administration Department of Andhra Pradesh and is headed by a senior IPS officer of the rank of a DGP.
However, senior officers in the department feel that it is not being used by the public to the desired level.
Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) of ACB (Visakhapatnam urban) K. Ramakrishna Prasad says that many people still hesitate to approach them.
According to him, the general perception is that if one lodges a complaint; they might be entangled in the case. “This notion is wrong. We do not reveal the identity of the complainant. Their name is kept secret and their task ends with giving information or a complaint,” says Mr. Prasad. The ACB primarily focuses on three types of cases – trapping, disproportionate assets to the known sources of income and surprise checks on officials and departments.
Giving details, the DSP says in trap cases, a person can approach the department with a written complaint against an official who demands bribe or favours for a job to be done. Once the department receives such a complaint, the staff will work on it and catch the official while accepting the bribe amount.
In case of disproportionate assets, there is no need for any written complaint. “One can simply give us information against the official who is suspected to have amassed wealth beyond his sources of income. The information may be over phone, through SMS or a letter. We even accept an anonymous letter. Upon receiving information, we will investigate from our side discreetly and zero in on the official after gathering information and proof required, says Mr. Ramakrishna Prasad.
Surprise checks are routine. Last year, the ACB booked 33 cases of which 27 were trap cases, which included a few police officers, four DA cases and two surprise checks.
In this year so far, the ACB booked nine cases of which eight were trap cases and one pertained to a DA case.
Contact numbers
People can lodge their complaints by calling the office over 0891-2552894 or the DSP directly over 9440446170 or any of the inspectors over 9440446171, 9440446172 or 9440446173.
The postal address is ACB, Plot Number 24, Doctor’s Colony, Seethammadhara, Visakhapatnam – 530013.
