Hyderabad ACB launches probe against Banjara Hills SHO, cops for demanding bribe from pub owner

Bribe demand and harassment

“We received a complaint against the SHO and other policemen, saying they were demanding a bribe from a pub owner on Thursday. So, our officers went to the police station and inquired with the SHO and others,” a senior ACB official told South First,

Narender reportedly demanded a bribe of ₹4.5 lakh for a period. He later reduced the amount to ₹3 lakh.

Banjara Hills SHO M Narender. (Hyderabad police)

The bribe was meant to spare the pub management from harassment and to ensure the smooth functioning of the establishment.

Moreover, the reports added that home guard Hari demanded ₹10,000 as a bribe to pick up the bribe amount on behalf of the SHO.

Reports added that the inspector harassed the pub management over a delay in paying the bribe. He allegedly made several WhatsApp calls and also asked sub-inspector S Naveen Reddy to register a false case.

When the pub owner did not pay the bribe, the trio is said to have forcibly taken him to the station for no apparent reason on the intervening night of 30 September and 1 October.

The case came close on the heels of the ACB seizing ₹4.5 crore from the Hyderabad property of Manchireddy Mahender Reddy, the mandal revenue officer (MRO) of Marriguda in Nalagonda district.

Also read: Case against Lokesh: What Andhra CID said in a memo to ACB Court

Disproportionate assets

Marriguda MRO Mohammed Faheem Pasha. (Supplied)

The trap to catch the errant cops was laid at Reddy’s property in the BN Reddy Nagar area of the city on 30 September.

The ACB personnel found multiple bundles of currency notes of ₹500 denomination in iron trunks.

“Cash worth more than ₹2 crore was found. The remaining is a few kilograms of gold and documents of several properties,” MV Srinivasa Rao, Deputy Superintendent of Police of the ACB’s Nalagonda range, told South First.

He added of the SHO: “He has also been accused of having assets that are disproportionate to his known sources of income.”

The ACB has registered a case against Reddy under the Prevention of Corruption Act of 1998.

Also read: ACB Court posts Chandrababu Naidu’s bail petition

At least 7 govt officials caught this year

Reddy was not the first government official to be apprehended for corruption this year.

On 6 September, the ACB sleuths arrested a multi-purpose health extension officer (MPHEO) for demanding a bribe of ₹15,000 to approve the file of a physiotherapist who had applied for a certificate to run his clinic.

Mohammed Faheem Pasha, who demanded the bribe at the district medical and health officer’s (DM&HO) office in Medak, was caught red-handed when he was receiving it at Dharani Photo Studio.

On 12 July, inspector K Janaki of the Peerzadiguda Municipal Corporation in the Medchal-Malkajgiri district and her subordinate were caught red-handed by the ACB while accepting a bribe.

As per the ACB officials, Janaki demanded ₹20,000 through her junior R Saroja, who works as an office subordinate in the Outsourcing Department.

The municipal inspector demanded cash from complainant Sriramulu in exchange for processing bills and handing over the cheques.

Peerzadiguda muncipal corporation sanitary Inspector K. #Janaki caught red handed by #ACB while accepting 20k #bribe at her office through one outsourcing employee by name saroja from the complainant. #Telangana pic.twitter.com/ht36p3Xfst

— Arbaaz The Great (@ArbaazTheGreat1) July 12, 2023

On 17 June, the ACB arrested the Telangana University Vice-Chancellor (VC) Dachepalli Ravinder on charges of corruption.

The ACB caught the VC red-handed while he was accepting a bribe from the promoter of an educational institution.

On 13 June, the ACB sleuths nabbed three people — a superintendent, an accounts officer, and an accountant — working at the DM&HO in the act of accepting a bribe of ₹10,000 from a CCTV technician for sanctioning the renting of a vehicle.