Low conviction rate as accused officials influence the prosecution process
Hyderabad: Efforts of ACB officials to weed out corrupt officials are being affected by bureaucratic delays, in some cases influenced by the accused officials, resulting in delayed prosecution and justice.
The conviction rate in the cases involving bribery and disproportionate assets, registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), is low because of the delayed clearances from the vigilance and enforcement for prosecution, and the department concerned.
Director-general Vijay Kumar said the ACB had registered 152 cases and arrested 223 accused in 2024. Of these, 129 were trap cases involving the arrest of 200 accused including 159 government officers, and 11 disproportionate assets cases. Eighteen people were arrested in 12 cases of criminal misconduct by government officers. However, they have obtained convictions in only 16 cases.
According to Forum for Good Governance (FGG) president M. Padmanabha Reddy, there are several factors which delay the investigation in the ACB cases.
“After the ACB finished its probe, the officials send a report to the vigilance department for referring to the state government for approval for prosecution. At this stage, the accused officers begin their manipulative activities to delay the process. After the V&E clearance, section officials could get influenced by the accused by sending files for legal opinion, delaying the process further," Padmanabha Reddy said.
He said that the FCG wrote to Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy and urged him to issue sanction orders immediately for the prosecution of the accused officers in the ACB cases.
Giving an example of the delay, Padmanabha Reddy said that ACB booked DCTO G. Srinivas Rao, who was working at the office of the joint commissioner (ST), Malkajgiri, in 2013. For the last 11 years, the case is pending.
While the case was pending, Srinivas Rao filed a writ petition in the Telangana High Court (WP No 7046 of 2025) for his promotion without reference to the criminal case pending in the ACB Court. The judge passed an interim order asking the government to consider the case of Srinivas Rao for the post of assistant commissioner.
Similarly, the ACB case against D. Srinivas Reddy, deputy commercial tax officer, office of the commissioner, commercial taxes, was pending for the last seven years. Inquiry was not completed yet and no chargesheet was filed. He approached the High Court for his promotion without giving reference to FIR No. 04/RCT–ACB–NZB/2018.
S. Goutham, an advocate at the Telangana High Court, said that the ACB must probe the case on priority, based on finishing its legal formalities.
