South Central Railway (SCR) official and former Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh (INCAP) Limited K. Sambasiva Rao, who was arrested in connection with an alleged scam in AP State Fibernet Limited (APSFL), has moved quash and bail petitions in the High Court.
Officials of the Crime Investigation Department (CID), Mangalagiri, who recently registered a case on the alleged irregularities in APSFL, arrested Sambasiva Rao on Saturday. He was sent in judicial remand.
An Indian Railway Traffic Service (IRTS) official, he served as INCAP MD on deputation to the State government during 2015-2018 period. In 2015, the government took up the ₹329 crore Fiber Grid Project Phase-1 for laying fiber cables through towers and electric poles to provide digital services to the public.
Following a complaint over irregularities in the finalisation of tenders and collusion of some officials with the managements of private firms causing a loss of about ₹121 crore, the CID police registered a case and took up investigation.
Sambasiva Rao, who was the chairman of the technical and tender evaluation committees and convener of the high-level tender approval committee then, claimed that the CID officials had arrested him without obtaining the mandatory permission from the Government of India.
In the petitions, he pleaded that many sections, including the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act, were not applicable to him in the case, and urged the High Court to quash the FIR and release him on bail.
Sambasiva Rao said that he was ready to cooperate with the investigation officers and share the information available with him with regard to the alleged APSFL scam.
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