The probe by the Anti Corruption Bureau into the liquor syndicates pay-offs scandal that rocked the state for several weeks early this year seems to have lost its way completely.

Ever since the Kiran Kumar Reddy government shunted ACB additional director general Bhoobati Babu from the post and posted B Prasada Rao as the DG, it was pretty evident that the case was getting diluted. Prasada Rao had earlier worked as APSRTC chairman and naturally, he tried to protect his boss – transport minister Botsa Satyanarayana, whose name figured prominently among the political bigwigs behind the liquor scam.

Now, all these people were conveniently shown the escape route and naturally, the case has got diluted. It was evident from the reply given to the ACB authorities to the high court on Wednesday, when it questioned as to how long the case would be dragged and why there was so much delay in the progress of investigation.

“We are giving the status reply once in two months. The case is under investigation,” was the reply given by the ACB to the high court.