Hans News Service Vijayawada

TheAnti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials of the Vijayawada Range on Wednesday caught a Ward Welfare and Development Secretary red-handed while allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 7,000 from a complainant at Ramalingeswara Nagar here. According to the ACB, a case was registered against accused officer Vemula Sambasiva Rao, Ward Welfare and Development Secretary, Ward Secretariat, 16-Police Colony, Kotinagar, Gayatri Road, Ramalingeswara Nagar, Vijayawada, under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, as amended in 2018.

The case was registered based on a complaint lodged by Pandraju Naga Durga Rao, 38, of Balajinagar, Krishnalanka. The ACB alleged that Sambasiva Rao had demanded Rs 7,000 from the complainant for performing an official favour related to verification of an application on the Jnanabhumi portal, Aadhaar and other documents for college fee reimbursement.

The ACB laid a trap at around 11.56 am on Wednesday at the Ward Secretariat in 16-Police Colony, Kotinagar. The accused officer was allegedly caught red-handed while demanding and accepting Rs 7,000 from the complainant.

According to the ACB, Sambasiva Rao was appointed as Ward Welfare and Development Secretary in the Municipal Administration and Urban Development Department on November 25, 2019, and was initially posted at Ayodhya Nagar in Vijayawada. He was later transferred to the Ranigari Thota Ward Secretariat in 2022.

He has been working at the 16-Police Colony–Kotinagar Ward Secretariat on Gayatri Road, Ramalingeswara Nagar, since July 9, 2026. The ACB appealed to the public to report instances of corruption in government departments to the nearest ACB office or through its toll-free number 1064, mobile number 9440440057 or email at complaints-acb@ap.gov.in. The identity of complainants and informants would be kept confidential, it said.