Excise minister Padma Rao was addressing excise officials and staff in his office.
Representational image
Hyderabad: Excise minister Padma Rao was addressing excise officials and staff in his office at the Secretariat on Mon-day after releasing the 2016 diary of the Prohibition and Excise department.
Stating that 80 per cent of the excise staff were facing ACB cases, he said, “I was told by employees’ union leaders that these cases were booked by Seemandhra rulers in erstwhile AP after they started taking part actively in the Telangana agitation. The government will withdraw these cases.” The minister’s promise got a thunderous applause from TNGOs association leaders Mr G. Deviprasad, Mr K. Ravinder Reddy and scores of excise staff who were present in the meeting. Official sources said 325 excise officials were caught red-handed by ACB.
Though he did not reveal how many employees were caught red-handed by ABC while taking bribes, official sources in the department said that the number was around 325. However, officials are apprehensive about whether the decision to withdraw ACB cases purely on grounds of the "Telangana sentiment" will stand legal scrutiny.
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( Source : deccan chronicle )
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