Rs 609 crore cash belonging to Telangana slips into Andhra Pradesh's account

Hyderabad: The Telangana Labour department has approached the city police alleging that over Rs 600 crore has gone missing from the department’s bank account.

Following a complaint from commissioner of labour Dr A. Ashok, Chikkadpally, police found that around Rs 609 crore was transferred to the account of Andhra Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.

As the petitioner alleged that it was an illegal transfer, the Chikkadpally police has started an investigation into the issue.

Chikkadpally police inspector N.L.N. Raju said that two officials — Murali Sagar, secretary, and Rama Rao, finance manager — of the AP Building and Construction Welfare Board, had transferred the money to the account.

“We have started a probe following a complaint by the labour commissioner. The two officers have transferred the money to the AP board’s account,” he said. The two officials told the police that they had transferred the money following orders from the chief secretary of Andhra Pradesh.

Meanwhile, it is still not clear how far the the AP chief secretary had the power to transfer the funds of the Telangana Labour department to the AP labour department.

Police officials, after verifying the files and transfer details, said that the money was transferred on October 7, though the labour department officials noticed it later.

Sources said that a tug of war is going on between the AP and Telangana boards and the funds transfer is one of the incident that has emerged.