ACB conducts surprise raids at MRO offices in Visakhapatnam District

Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials conducted surprise raids at various Mandal Revenue Office (MRO) offices in several areas of the Visakhapatnam District on Tuesday. The ACB officials raided six MRO offices at Vizag Rural, Seethammadhara, Pendurthi, Anandapuram, Atchutapuram and Padmanabha Mandalam. ACB Andhra Pradesh is responsible for tackling corruption by public servants in government offices. This is not the first time ACB officials have conducted surprise raids in government offices in Visakhapatnam.

The ACB officials reportedly conducted raids from 12 noon on Tuesday. It is learned that the ACB officials also took statements from the public who came to the MRO offices. According to ACB Inspector K Lakshmana Murthy, these raids have been carried out based on complaints on MRO offices. The complaints were based on corruption and other allegations.

During the surprise raids, ACB teams collected information on applications received, rejected and pending files from June 2020 till date. The raids were focussed mainly on mutations, land exchange applications. From some of the MRO offices, hard disks, CDs, Chequebooks and passbooks were also seized. It has been found that there are many applications that have remained rejected for a year. At the Padmanabham MRO office, around 114 passbooks given by the Government were kept stocked, not given to the beneficiaries. Also, cash was seized from the surveyor’s cupboard. The ACB teams have interacted with some of the applicants and beneficiaries and checked if they were asked to give money in order to get their work completed. 

The raids by ACB teams in Vizag are to continue on Wednesday and a detailed report will be formalised once the raids are completed. 

Along with these MRO offices in Visakhapatnam District, ACB also conducted raids at MRO offices in Vizianagaram District.