Three ‘Benamis’ of Siva Balakrishna arrested by ACB
Hyderabad: In continuation of crackdown against tainted officer Siva Balakrishna, Anti corruption Bureau(ACB) arrested three men who colluded with the tainted officer and assisted him to acquire properties illegally exploiting his government job. The arrests were made on Tuesday. This is the third series of arrests after Siva Balakrishna and his brother Siva Naveen. Siva Balakrishna held key positions during the previous regime in the state. He was Planning Officer in Hyderabad Metro Rail Limited at the time of arrest. He worked as a former Director in HMDA, Hyderabad.
The ACB officials who are investigating the Disproportionate Assets(DA) case of Siva Balakrishna unveiled the links of three men who assisted him. Preliminary probe indicated that the accused Godavarthi Satyanarayana Murthy aged 62 years, Penta Bharath Kumar, aged 34 years and Penta Bharani Kumar, aged 30 years actively assisted and abetted Siva Balakrishna to commit the offence of acquiring assets disproportionate to his known sources of income.
Further the tainted money was used to acquire properties and register them on their names in a way acting as the ‘benamis’ of Siva Balakrishna, said ACB in an official statement released on Tuesday. All the three accused were produced before the court and sent to judicial custody.
Searches conducted in January
It is pertinent to note that in the month of January this year, 2024, ACB conducted simultaneous searches in Siva Balakrishna’s house and Sixteen other places belonging to his relatives, friends and other associates recovered whooping Eight crores twenty six lakhs worth of properties. The unearth properties include one crore cash and Gold and silver ornaments.
ACB arrests Three Private accused persons in Ex HMDA Director Siva Balakrishna's Disproportionate Assets case
In continuation of the investigation of the Disproportionate assets case of Siva Balakrishna, Ex.Director, HMDA, on Tuesday; Anti-Corruption Bureau, Telangana arrested… pic.twitter.com/wo9NEVwmR2
— Sudhakar Udumula (@sudhakarudumula) April 23, 2024
Siva Balakrishna was questioned by ACB for four days and later sent to judicial custody in the month of February. Further ACB delved deep into the illegal properties of Siva Balakrishna which went unchecked for a long period of time.