Katam Lakshman Bhaskar, Additional Commissioner of Prohibition and Excise, the number two man in the department in the State, was in the habit of acquiring landed properties wherever he was posted, it was alleged.
The officer was arrested on Sunday by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) and sent to remand by the Special ACB Court on Monday here in Visakhapatnam, and the documents seized show his love for land, gold and costly liquor.
The land documents seized include two flats, one each in Visakhapatnam and Secunderabad valued at Rs.1.34 crores, six house sites in Ranga Reddy district in Telangana valued at Rs. 27.71 lakhs, another six in Visakhapatnam district and city valued at Rs. 41.12 lakhs, four house sites at Shadnagar in Mahbubnagar district in Telangana valued at Rs. 2.4 lakhs each, agriculture land of 4.47 cents in his village Ramannapalem in West Godavari district valued at Rs. 8.91 lakhs and one-acre vacant plot in Kapulupada in Visakhapatnam valued at Rs. 30 lakhs.
The ACB team led by DSP Kinjarapu Ramakrishna Prasad also seized 3 kg of gold ornaments and 15 kg of silver and over 25 bottles of choicest foreign liquor. The property seized in his name and in benami names is valued at Rs. 3.58 crores, which has a market value of at least Rs. 35 crores, said an ACB officer.
A 1994 Group I officer, Mr. Bhaskar began his career as Assistant Excise Superintendent in Visakhapatnam.
Son of an agricultural labourer, he is the only one in the family who has settled well. The rest including his first cousins and other siblings still eke out a living from small jobs.
He led a lavish lifestyle and that appears to have become his nemesis. “His friends always looked forward for his parties, as they were toasted with foreign liquor such as Glenfiddich and Johnnie Walker Blue Label. Many envied it, and that was how information was leaked out to the ACB,” said sources in the Excise Department.
The ACB sleuths put him under surveillance for over three months.
Huge income
Sources in the ACB said his modus operandi was simple. He made sure that the monthly ‘mamool’ (bribe) from each wine shop and bar in the State reached him on time.
There is a system of wine shops allegedly paying a monthly ‘mamool’ to some officials and he had established a well-spread network.
There are about 4,000 wine shops and it is estimated that his monthly income was close to Rs. 10 lakh. It also included cuts for new licences and renewals, said an ACB official.
The Rs. 10 lakh-odd cash seized from his various residences and his benami holders including a constable in Visakhapatnam had clear markings of the ‘mamool’ from various districts, the official added.
The ACB is now focussing on the benami holders.
