ED Vets Ghose Report To Nail Officials’ Irregularities
The commission report highlighted the role of Hari Ram across at least five pages
Hyderabad: The Enforcement Directorate is reportedly examining the P.C. Ghose commission report on the Kaleshwaram project irregularities for violation of business rules and misuse of government funds by senior officers.
Hours after the government tabled the 665-page report in the Assembly on Sunday, ED officials reportedly obtained a copy and formed teams to analyse the role of senior officers in misusing government funds, especially that of former chief engineer Bhookya Hari Ram, who is been accused in an illegal assets case.
Sources said the ED teams had begun sifting through the details of fund misuse, business rule violations, and the role of senior officers of the then BRS government in monitoring operations, while also identifying key points of the report.
The commission report highlighted the role of Hari Ram across at least five pages, outlining his functioning during the BRS government’s tenure, particularly in initiating DPRs and corresponding with several departments.
The report noted that on July 17, 2015, Hari Ram, then chief engineer of the Dr B.R. Ambedkar Pranahitha Chevella Sujala Shravanti (PCSS) project, wrote a letter to the chief engineer, Central Designs Organisation (CDO), stating that Water and Power Consultants Ltd. (WAPCOS), which had been engaged to conduct studies and prepare detailed project reports (DPRs) for the lift irrigation scheme from Medigadda (Kaleshwaram) to Mid Manair reservoir, had submitted the barrage design report and drawings for the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation scheme (KLIS).
He requested that the chief engineer, CDO, approve the proposals for the barrage at the earliest. In response, Hari Ram received correspondence from the CDO suggesting the incorporation of several observations.
The ED has registered an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in connection with three irrigation officers —Hari Ram, Nunne Sridhar, and C. Muralidhar Rao — for amassing illegal assets and diverting funds to other sources. All three officers worked on the Kaleshwaram Project.
Initially, the ACB registered cases against the three officers after conducting raids on their residences, reportedly uncovering huge illegal assets in the form of both movable and immovable properties.
On April 26, 2025, the ACB arrested Hari Ram in Gajwel after establishing his role in misusing project funds and diverting them. Following the ACB’s action, the ED registered an ECIR to pursue the case further.
Ghose commission’s findings on officials:
B. Hari Ram, Engineer-in-Chief (Irrigation), Gajwel, Siddipet district, held the office of the managing director of Kaleshwaram Irrigation Corporation Limited, a special purpose vehicle (SPV) which implemented the KLIS.
He filed an affidavit before the Ghose Commission and was examined as C.W. 35.
Issues raised on the Medigadda, Annaram, and Sundilla barrages, as well as the Lakshmi, Saraswathi, and Parvathi Pump Houses mentioned in the notice, come under Link-I of the Kaleshwaram Project.
These fall under the jurisdiction of N. Venkateshwarlu, then chief engineer of the Kaleshwaram project, Karimnagar. Later Venkateshwarlu became engineer-in-chief (irrigation), Ramagundam.
