India News | IRTS Officer Arrested in 'FiberNet Scam'

Amaravati, Sep 18 (PTI): The Crime Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday arrested a senior IRTS officer K Sambasiva Rao in connection with the Rs 321 crore fibernet scam.

Sambasiva Rao is currently the Chief Commercial Manager in the South Central Railways headquarters at Secunderabad and had previously served as Managing Director of the AP State FiberNet Limited.

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The CID had recently filed an FIR on the alleged irregularities in AP State FiberNet Limited, putting the sum involved at Rs 321 crore.

The IRTS officer had served on deputation in AP government during the previous Chandrababu Naidu regime.

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The CID named him as an accused in the case and questioned him extensively in the last five days, before arresting him.

He was produced before a local court that remanded him to 14-day judicial custody.

The FiberNet project was meant to provide Internet and telephone services to all households in the state, as part of the Bharat Net project of the Government of India.

In the FIR registered on September 9, the CID named 16 persons and two companies as the accused in the case.

Citing a complaint filed by APSFL Chairman P Goutham Reddy, the CID said Vemuri Harikrishna Prasad, the then member of the e-Governance Authority governing council, colluded with Tera Software Limited to ensure the tender for Rs 321 crore was illegally awarded to the company.

Prasad is also being questioned in the case, along with officials of Tera Software, CID sources said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)