Police personnel getting caught on corruption charges is not completely unheard of. Yet six police officers of the State, including an Additional Superintendent of Police, landing behind the bars within three weeks over graft accusations is surely unusual.
All of them were sent to prison, having been remanded in judicial custody. If the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials, who arrested them in three different graft cases, prove the charges in the court of law, they might lose their jobs permanently.
The three cases were different. The first one reported on December 20, 2019 was that of ASP G. Narasimha Reddy, working as Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police of Siddipet. Selected as SI during first ever special recruitment for Intelligence wing, Mr. Reddy got accelerated promotions for his ‘commendable’ work.
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ACB’s official communication said on the day of his arrest that his assets worth over ₹5 crore were disproportionate to his known sources of income. The corruption case curtails his chances of promotion as Superintendent of Police.
A person recruited as SI in police department retires mostly as Deputy Superintendent of Police or ASP. With close to six years service still left, he had fair chance of getting promoted as non-cadre SP and heading a district. The disproportionate assets case apparently shattered his career aspirations and cast shadow on his ‘previous successes’ .
The arrest of three police officers — constable and writer of Gambhirraopet police station in Sircilla-Rajanna district Kanakaraju, SI Anil Kumar and Yellareddypet Circle Inspector Lingamurthy — in a single case of bribery in Sircilla-Rajanna district was reported on this January 3. They were accused of demanding ₹25,000 from a person after he was caught by the CI transporting sand illegally in a van.
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They later allegedly agreed to let him off without any case on payment of ₹10,000. The constable, ACB records say, received the bribe while sitting on PS premises. Based on his confession, the SI and Inspector were arrested. If the case ends in conviction, Mr. Anil Kumar’s services would be terminated since he was on probation.
A SI of 2017 batch, Mr. Kumar was caught barely 45 days after he was sent to the police station on probation following completion of training. Recently, the Home Department has issued termination of service of a city SI in a near similar case.
Probationary SI S. Srinivas was caught on bribery charge in 2014 while working in Reinbazar police station of Hyderabad. The case was referred to Commissioner of Inquiries who held him guilty and this resulted in termination of his service.
Less than a week after the Gambhirraopet case, ACB sleuths arrested SI P. Sudheer Reddy of Jubilee Hills PS for “receiving ₹50,000 bribe and two whiskey bottles from a businessman” to help him in a cheating case. The Inspector Balvanthaiah disappeared soon after the SI’s arrest only to surrender before the ACB authorities a couple of days later.
Balvanthaiah was among the police officers against whom an inquiry was ordered over allegations of having connections with slain gangster Nayeemuddin. He later worked as Inspector with Hyderabad Police Commissioner’s Task Force.