Hyderabad: The Anti-Corruption Bureau on Wednesday questioned three associates of HMDA former director Siva Balakrishna, arrested for disproportionate assets, in connection with the alleged illegal money transactions.
The ACB is said to have questioned the associates, Bharat and Bharani, who are Balakrishna’s nephews, and Satyanarayana Murthy, on their business links with the accused official as also his assets and the transactions that he had made while in office.
The ACB suspects that Bharani and Bharat allegedly collected bribes for Balakrishna from businessmen and real estate firms. The ACB retrieved their call data and WhatsApp chats and is checking them.
Sources said Balakrishna when he was at the HMDA employed Bharani and Bharat as outsourced computer operators. Based on his instructions, his relatives worked to issue online approvals for real estate firms.
Balakrishna is in jail, his bail plea has been dismissed. The ACB is likely to serve notices to some more persons including employees associated with Balakrishna for questioning.
