In a rude shock to senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer and former intelligence chief of Andhra Pradesh A B Venkateshwara Rao, the Central Administrative Tribunal on Tuesday endorsed his suspension by the YSR Congress party government alleged irregularities in procurement of security equipment during the previous Telugu Desam Party regime.
The CAT dismissed the petition of Venkateshwara Rao challenging his suspension by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government last month.
Apparently, the CAT felt that there are prima facie evidences with the investigating officials in suspending him and ordered that the investigation would have to be conducted to probe the charges.
Venkateshwara Rao, in his petition in the CAT, alleged that the suspension was politically motivated and was illegal and arbitrary.
He claimed that there was not a single charge against him in his three decades of service and he had received several awards.
He said he had not been given any posting after he was shifted out of his post on May 30, when the new government took charge in the state.
He had been attached to the headquarters without even being paid his salary for the last eight months.
Earlier, the Union ministry of home affairs also approved the suspension of Venkateshwara Rao.
An MHA official said the state government could proceed with the investigation and file a charge sheet against the 1989-batch IPS officer of Director General of Police rank, latest by April 7.
The MHA official said the ministry had noted the allegations made against Rao in the preliminary inquiry report that he had he had committed irregularities in the procurement of aerostat and unmanned aerial vehicle at a cost of Rs 25.50 crore under the modernisation of police forces scheme during 2017-18.
On February 8, the YSR Congress government suspended Rao on disciplinary grounds.
An official note then said a departmental inquiry against Rao had revealed that he had colluded with an Israeli defence equipment manufacturing firm RT Inflatables Pvt Ltd to illegally award critical Intelligence and surveillance contract to his son Chetan Sai Krishna, who is CEO of Akasam Advanced Systems Pvt Ltd.
“This proves a direct co-relation between Rao and a foreign defence manufacturing firm, thereby establishing a direct breach of ethical code of conduct and All India service rules,” the official note said, quoting the inquiry report.
The inquiry further revealed that Rao had wilfully disclosed intelligence protocols and procedures of police to the foreign Defence manufacturing firm, which was a direct threat to national security as intelligence protocols are standard throughout the Indian Police Force.
Rao, who was intelligence chief during the Chandrababu Naidu regime, was shifted from the post following complaints from YSR Congress party leaders during the general elections in April 2019. He was later posted as DGP of Anti-Corruption Bureau.
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