Hyderabad: A large number of corruption cases in Telangana and AP slow down during the investigation process or during trial. Although it is hard to find empirical evidence it is an open secret that political influence hamper investigations and delay the legal process.
A significant number of corruption cases filed by both the Anti Corruption Bureau and vigilance departments in AP and Telangana are either stuck in probe officials files or in court and several suspects are yet to be convicted.
According to National Crime Records Bureau data, in Andhra Pradesh, investigation into as many as 284 cases out of the over 500 cases are still pending, while in Telangana, 206 cases out of 400 are still under investigation by 2015-end.
The data also showed that probe officials from AP have not filed charge sheets in 113 cases even after the deadline, while the ACB and vigilance officials of Telangana have not filed charge sheets in over 160 cases.
An analysis of the data proves that despite being special agencies, which deals with high profile cases with a lot of resources, the two agencies are going slow in many cases.
Governments are also sitting on departmental inquiries against bureaucrats slowing down probes. Sources said that in AP, over 133 reports of ACB are pending with the government for appropriate orders after inquiries by the commissioner of inquiries (COI) and Tribunal for Disciplinary Proceedings (TDP) and departments.
Meanwhile, higher officials from both Telangana and AP disagreed with this. They claimed that ACB and vigilance do well in conviction compared to CID and the police. “ACB’s conviction rate is more than 70 per cent.
The pendency in investigation is due to factors like delay in seizure of evidence, witness procurement and other factors which make it difficult to file charge sheets in time," said a TS ACB official. The officials also denied any sort of external or political influence hindering ACB cases in both the states.
"ACB is independent compared to other enforcement agencies. Investigation officials cannot be easily influenced by external factors. We also have to show maximum transparency in our task since we primarily fight corruption," claimed another officer.
