It is a strange case of Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation officer being the complainant and his own colleagues - as many as 17 - emerging as the accused.
The Baldia officer, who approached the police a few weeks ago accusing that contractors presented fake bills in ‘nala’ (canal) desilting works, would have never imagined his complaint would ultimately haunt his own colleagues, investigators said. While 13 Assistant Engineers of the GHMC’s Central zone were arrested in the case, four more are yet to be apprehended.
“Nowhere in the complaint the possible complicity of the AEs was mentioned. Its content suggested that contractors tried to pocket ₹ 1.10 crore without executing the work of desilting nalas,” Hyderabad Central Crime Station officials said. As they stumbled upon evidence that the weigh bills presented by the contractors were fabricated, the CCS sleuths arrested 18 of them.
Evidence found
Even at that stage there was no evidence against the GHMC AEs. “During interrogation, the contractors admitted to have paid some percentage of the value of the presented bills to the officers in cash,” a police officer associated with the investigation of the case said.
When the CCS sleuths dug deeper into the case, they found that the AEs had signed the bills and entered the details in the Measurement Book. “Irrespective of the alleged payment of bribes to the officers, the endorsement of the weigh bills emerged as strong witness against the AEs and made them accused in the case,” the investigators said.
Measurement book
The officers had little to say and defend themselves as the Measurement Book details turned out to be documentary witness. The investigation was yet to be completed and four more are yet to be arrested.
The case would come up for trial after filing the charge-sheet which would take some time. Interestingly, Minister for IT and Municipal Administration K.T. Rama Rao, tweeted that for the first time in the history of GHMC tough measures were being initiated, referring to the arrests. He hoped that it would serve as a deterrant against erring employees.
But, the GHMC employees didn’t take the arrests in the same spirit. They staged demonstration at the Baldia office after lunch hours protesting the arrests. They charged that employees were being made scapegoats.
