Sub-treasury employee booked by ACB

Tirupati: Anti-Corruption Bureau of Tirupati caught a Senior Assistant of Sub-treasury office red-handed here on Tuesday while taking bribe from a pensioner. Senior Assistant Kranthi Kumar demanded former Regional Joint Director, Animal Husbandry P Ramachandra Reddy, to pay Rs 5,000 to release his pension of February month. The officer kept his pension bill pending for about three weeks. The son of the retired employee and Assistant Professor at Sri Venkateswara University, P Krishnamohan Reddy, lodged a complaint with the ACB officials few days ago. After gathering information about the harassment by the treasury employee, an ACB team led by Deputy SP Krishnarjuna Rao conducted a surprise raid on sub-treasury office here on Tuesday morning. They caught Kranthi Kumar red-handedly while taking bribe from Krishnamohan Reddy and filed a case against him. Speaking to media persons, Deputy SP said preliminary investigation revealed that Kranthi Kumar kept 299 pension files in pending status as he was not given the bribe amount. Even after 19 days, these pensions are still in pending status, he added. Involvement of some other people could be possible. However, we can confirm that only after further enquiry, he stated. Meanwhile, complainant Krishnamohan Reddy said several pensioners are at the mercy of treasury staff and were losing mental peace by not getting pensions on time. Now this complaint will bring peace to 299 pensioners and many more, he added.