Hyderabad: Among dishonest government officials in a loop, it pays to keep money taps open. And, those having money taps are often powerful enough to stave off a transfer or simply ignore it! This explains how N Sridhar, an official of the Irrigation Department, arrested recently in a disproportionate assets case, managed to stay in the same location and position for over one year despite his transfer and even got his superiors to support him in the department by devious means.

During investigations following the arrest of Sridhar in DA case, the Anti-Corruption Bureau stumbled upon the role of top irrigation officials in supporting him to continue in the same post, defying transfer orders issued by the Irrigation Secretary last year.

Engineer-in– chief (General) G Anil Kumar is suspected to have helped Sridhar by quietly not relieving from the post.

Officials said that state Irrigation Secretary Rahul Bojja issued orders to Sridhar, who was working as Executive Engineer (EE) in Choppadani in Karimnagar district, asking him to report to the head office on June 27 last year. The official did not report but managed to continue in the post and in the same location without any communication to the head office for the last one year.

Aghast at this finding, the ACB, which arrested the irrigation official in a DA assets case last week, sought additional details with evidence from the higher authorities.

Upon enquiries, the agency received information that Sridhar had been maintaining close relations with some top officials in the head office of the irrigation wing and thus managed to continue in the same post. “The role of Anil Kumar in supporting Sridhar and other officials is under investigation. The ACB will summon the ENC and other top officials once the agency gets adequate evidence about the links between these officials,” sources said. It was pointed out that Anil had stopped the transfer of Sridhar and managed it secretly without involving the Secretary. Taking serious note of it, the ACB officials decided to question Sridhar, presently in Chanchalguda jail, to ferret out details of his relations with his superiors in the Irrigation wing. The role of top officials in supporting the corrupt engineer to amass a staggering wealth of more than Rs 200 crore would be probed before proceeding against all others who are believed to be involved in the entire episode, sources told The Hans India.