AP officer held for amassing unaccounted wealth

A regional joint commissioner of the Endowments Department was today arrested after the Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau claimed it has unearthed disproportionate assets worth crores of rupees belonging to him and his family members.
The officer, S Surya Chandrasekhara Azad, has already been facing six department inquiries over alleged misappropriation of funds and misuse of official position, ACB Director General Ram Prawesh Thakur said in a release.
ACB teams conducted raids on the properties of Azad and his kin at 18 places, including Rajamahendravaram, Vijayawada, Hyderabad, Nuzividu, Anantapuramu and Eluru today and unearthed "huge" moveable and immovable assets belonging to him, his wife and relatives, the release said.

The accused officer also purchased 32.1 acres of land in Anantapuramu district in the name of three servant maids and set up a solar power plant with an investment of Rs 18 crore, the ACB DG said.
Azad and his family members mortgaged property worth Rs 3 crore with Canara Bank to obtain loan for the solar plant, Thakur said.
"These documents have to be verified," the DG added.

"The accused officer had a bad reputation (in the Endowments Department) and at present six departmental inquiries are pending over allegations of misappropriation of funds and misuse of official position. He also made several trips to Europe, China, Malaysia and Singapore," Thakur said.

Among the properties discovered in Azad and his kin's names were a building in in Vijayawada, a new G+2 building (under construction) at Gollapudi, a flat in Hyderabad, a house plot at Penamaluru, another flat in Hyderabad, gold and silver articles worth Rs 12 lakh, household articles worth Rs 10 lakh and bank deposits of over Rs 11 lakh, the ACB said.
A bank locker in Hyderabad is yet to be opened, it said.
These assets are disproportionate to his known sources of income, the anti-graft agency said, adding the case is under investigation.