Hyderabad: The Anti Corruption Bureau has continued to strengthen its performance in 2025, registering 92 cases and enquiries by the end of May. Of these, 64 were trap cases where the accused were caught red-handed, and six were disproportionate assets (DA) cases. An analysis of data from the last two years shows that most arrests were from the police, revenue, municipal administration, panchayat raj, energy, and irrigation departments.In the first five months of 2025, ACB registered 80 cases, which included 64 trap cases, six DA cases, and 10 criminal misconduct cases. The ACB also conducted five regular enquiries, four surprise checks, and three discreet enquiries, leading to the arrest of 100 individuals.17 cops arrestedAmong those arrested were 17 police officers of various ranks, from constables to DSPs, and 14 officials from the revenue department, including revenue inspectors, mandal surveyors, and sub-registrars. The energy department (TGSPDCL and TGNPDCL) accounted for nine arrests, including engineers and linemen. Eight officials from the panchayat raj and rural development department were held, including a mandal panchayat officer and office assistants. The municipal administration department also saw arrests, including a municipal commissioner from Jagtial district. Additionally, six officials from the irrigation department, including executive engineers, were apprehended. Arrests were also made in departments such as excise, agriculture, welfare, medical and health, forest, finance, transport, and education.Compared to previous years, ACB’s performance in 2025 marks a clear improvement. In 2024, the bureau registered 152 cases—129 trap cases, 11 DA cases, and 12 criminal misconduct cases—along with 11 regular enquiries, 29 surprise checks, and 24 discreet enquiries. A total of 223 individuals were arrested. Revenue sees more arrestsThe revenue wing saw the highest number of arrests in 2024, with 45 officials booked, including an additional collector, tahsildars, revenue inspectors, and tax officers. The police department followed with 28 arrests, including an ACP, a circle inspector, and several sub-inspectors and constables. Notably, central crime station ACP Uma Maheshwara Rao was arrested in a DA case. The municipal administration department recorded 24 arrests, including a municipal commissioner from Wanaparthy district, assistant engineers, and sanitation staff. Other departments such as panchayat raj, energy, irrigation, agriculture, welfare, education, forest, finance, health, civil supplies, and roads and buildings also featured among the list of accused.This upward trend began in 2024. In contrast, 2023 saw only 87 cases and five enquiries, with 99 arrests in total. Remarkably, ACB’s performance in the first five months of 2025 has nearly matched or exceeded the bureau’s entire output for 2023.
