The Crime Investigation Department of Andhra Pradesh on Saturday, September 18 arrested a senior IRTS (Indian Railway Traffic Service) officer K Sambasiva Rao in connection with the Rs 321 crore FiberNet project 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 Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited, and the Infrastructure Corporation of Andhra Pradesh. The CID had recently filed an FIR on the alleged irregularities in Andhra Pradesh State FiberNet Limited (APSFL) naming around 18 accused, putting the sum involved at Rs 321 crore.
The IRTS officer had served on deputation in the Andhra Pradesh government during the previous Chandrababu Naidu regime. 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 told PTI.
Tera Software chairman SSR Koteswara Rao and managing director T Gopi Chand have also been named as accused in the case by the CID, as well as six directors of another company Himachal Futuristic Communications Limited. The CID registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Prevention of Corruption Act. A Cabinet Sub-Committee constituted by the Jagan Mohan Reddy government which looked into the alleged FiberNet scam alleged that tender conditions were relaxed to award work to Tera Software Ltd., even though the Central Public Sector Enterprise, Telecommunication Consultants India, emerged as the lowest bidder. The state Cabinet had decided to order a CBI probe into the case in June 2020, but the CBI reportedly did not show interest in taking up the case.