The late-night suspension of former Andhra Pradesh intelligence chief and senior IPS officer A B Venkateshwar Rao by the YSR Congress party government has not come as a surprise for him, as he has been expecting it for quite some time.
Venkateshwar Rao, a favourite officer of former chief minister and Telugu Desam Party president N Chandrababu Naidu, had not been given any posting since he was shifted from the post of Director General of Anti-Corruption Bureau in June, after YSRC president Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy took over as the chief minister.
When he was the state intelligence chief during Naidu regime, Venkateshwar Rao was allegedly instrumental in engineering defection of several YSRC MLAs into the TDP by coercion and bribing.
He also allegedly tried to influence the voters through police officials close to him during the last elections, for which the Election Commission had shifted him from the post and later, he was given the posting as ACB director general.
In the last eight months, the YSRC government systematically gathered a lot of evidence against Venkatehswar Rao for his alleged irregularities in procurement of security equipment during his tenure as intelligence chief in TDP regime.
An internal inquiry proved that he had colluded with an Israeli defence equipment manufacturing firm RT Inflatables Pvt Ltd to illegally award critical Intelligence and surveillance contract to his son Chetan Sai Krishna, who is CEO of Akasam Advanced Systems Pvt Ltd.
The inquiry further revealed that Venkateshwar Rao had wilfully disclosed intelligence protocols and procedures of police to the foreign Defence manufacturing firm, which was a direct threat to national security as intelligence protocols are standard throughout the Indian Police Force.
Venkateshwar Rao, however, is unmoved. He issued a brief statement on Sunday stating that the reports that appeared in the media that action had been taken against him on the charges of irregularities are false.
“Mentally, I don’t feel any trouble with this action. There is no need for my friends and relatives to worry about my suspension. I will challenge the suspension as per the law. My future course of action will be known subsequently,” he said.