Telangana Congress alleges corruption, demands judicial probe against top bureaucrat

Congress leader Revanth Reddy wrote to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao demanding a probe against bureaucrat Rajat Kumar alleging that a government contractor paid the bills during Kumar's daughter's wedding.

Telangana Congress leader Revanth Reddy wrote a letter to Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao demanding a probe against bureaucrat Rajat Kumar alleging that a government contractor paid the bills during Kumar's daughter's wedding.

MP Revanth Reddy demanded a judicial probe into the allegations of corruption against the Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Rajat Kumar. He alleged that a government contractor paid bills worth Rs. 50 lakh during the wedding of Rajat Kumar's daughter.

"A leading news portal has published a report alleging that the expenses for the five-star wedding ceremony of Rajat Kumar's daughter were paid by shells companies (Bigwave Infra Pvt Ltd & Interactive Data Systems) linked with government contractor Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL). The allegations are of a highly serious nature and could not be dismissed without a probe as the MEIL is constructing massive power substations and transmission lines worth several hundred crores for the prestigious Kaleshwaram project of Rs. 1.15 Lakh crore and Rajat Kumar is heading the Irrigation and Command Area Development Department as Special Chief Secretary," Revanth Reddy said in an open letter to Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao.

The Congress leader said that it was highly shocking that even after 48 hours of publication of news, the Chief Minister’s Office did not issue any denial or clarification although the chief minister himself holds the Irrigation Portfolio.

Reddy said that it has been alleged that the five-day wedding ceremonies were held in Hyderabad's top hotels including a banquet at the luxurious Taj Falaknuma Palace. A significant part of the expenses was billed to BigWave Infra Pvt Ltd.

Further investigations revealed that the address of the company in Hyderabad's Old City area was fake. Some top executives of the MEIL were intimately involved in the bookings at hotels Taj Krishna, Taj Deccan and Taj Falaknuma the venues and other liaison works. They used their company email IDs and also a dummy email ID (but signed off on mails with a real name), he said.

"The invoices were raised in the name of two companies - Interactive Data Systems and BigWave Infra Private Limited, which was created in June 2021. The directors of Interactive Data Systems are also on the boards of various MEIL companies. The report also claimed that the preliminary talks for the bookings were conducted by Rajat Kumar himself and later, the bureaucrat’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Prabhakar Rao coordinated all the arrangements along with two MEIL executives," he said in the open letter.