Shabad inspector B. Shankariah, who was in ACB net for accepting a bribe of ₹ 1.20 lakh on Thursday, had had a ‘nexus’ with Rakesh Reddy, the prime accused in the sensational murder of NRI businessman Chigurupati Jayaram, the investigators said.
They said that Shankariah’s alleged propensity to involve in land dispute cases had brought him in close proximity to Rakesh Reddy.
Speaking to The Hindu , a senior official said that Shankariah and Rakesh Reddy were ‘good friends’ and had first come in contact when the former was Dundigal inspector.
“Rakesh Reddy approached him in connection with a land dispute case sometime in 2018 and since then they have used to meet frequently,” he said.
He said that the inspector helped the accused in procuring Call Detail Record (CDR) of Jayaram and his niece Shrika Chowdary, a few months before the latter’s murder.
“With the help of the CDR, Rakesh Reddy came to know with whom Jayaram and Shrika were in contact,” he said.
Meanwhile, the ACB officials conducted simultaneous searches at the houses of Shankariah and his suspected benamis in Hyderabad and Mulkapatnam and Mothe villages in Nalgonda district and recovered gold ornaments, a four-wheeler, silver articles and documents of moveable and immovable properties worth around ₹ 4.58 crore, said to be disproportionate to his known sources of income.
The investigators found that the inspector owned two houses of ₹ 1.05 crore, 11 housing plots valued at ₹ 2.28 crore, gold jewellery worth ₹ 21.14 lakh, silver articles of ₹ 81,000 and a four-wheeler of ₹7 lakh, apart from ₹ 17.88 lakh and household articles worth ₹6.13 lakh.
They also found that Shakariah, through his benamis, owns 41 acres and three guntas of agricultural land in Renjal of Nizamabad, Mudimyal in Rangareddy and Miryalaguda valued at ₹77 lakh
“After assessing all the documents and seized goods, we came to the conclusion that the accused inspector is in possession of assets worth ₹4.58 crore and further investigation is in progress,” an official said.
