CBI faults Andhra for denying permission to act in corruption case

The CBI has taken a strong exception to the Andhra Pradesh government denying permission to carry out raids in a corruption case and leaking a confidential letter relating to it.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) also found fault with the state using its anti-corruption agency to trap a central government employee.

The central agency has accused Andhra Pradesh Home Secretary of non-cooperation and of sharing confidential inputs provided by CBI with others.

The CBI issued a strong-worded statement late Friday night, hours after Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) trapped a central government official in Krishna district while he was allegedly receiving bribe from a trader on Friday.

This is the first confrontation between the CBI and the Andhra Pradesh government since the latter's controversial order withdrawing general consent to the central agency to carry out raids and investigations into corruption cases in the state. In an order issued last month, the state government vested the powers of the CBI in the state with the ACB.

However, the state anti-graft agency claimed that the complainant had directly approached it.

M.K. Ramaneswar, working as superintendent in Central Tax and Central Excise (Central Board of Indirect Taxes) at Machilipatnam in Krishna district was caught red handed while accepting Rs 30,000 bribe from A.K. Lokesh Babu, a steel and cement trader.

"This is the first case on Central Government employees by ACB, AP after withdrawn the 'general consent' to CBI for registration and investigation of cases against central employees as per section 6(a) of Delhi Police Special EstablishmentA Act", stated the ACB director general in a statement.

The CBI Visakhapatnam SP said in a statement that the CBI had received a written complaint from Lokesh Babu on November 28 against Ramneswar for demanding bribe.

The same day a top secret letter was sent to rhe Principal Secretary (Home), Government of Andhra Pradesh requesting him to issue specific consent to CBI to lay a trap.

"It was also requested to keep the information strictly confidential and not to share the information with any other party," said the statement.

"However the Govt of AP did not issue the specific consent as requested by CBI, instead the details were shared by the Home Department with state ACB," it added.

The ACB laid a trap on Friday evening against the above central government public servant by using the contents of the request letter.

"CBI deeply regrets such non-cooperation by the State Home Department in this matter. This will only make the fight against corruption more difficult for the anti corruption agencies and the mutual trust between the agencies will be vitiated. Corruption can be eradicated only through mutual cooperation, and trust", the CBI official added.

--IANS

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