Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee president and Malkajgiri MP A Revanth Reddy on Friday demanded a judicial probe into the reports that senior IAS officer Rajat Kumar had made a prominent irrigation contractor pay for the expenses of his daughter’s wedding.
Referring to an investigative story carried by a website on Thursday, Revanth pointed out that the expenses for the five-star wedding ceremony of Special Chief Secretary (Irrigation) Rajat Kumar's daughter held from December 17 to 21 last year, were paid by shells companies belonging to Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL).
He said the allegations are of a highly serious nature and could not be dismissed without a probe as the MEIL is constructing massive power substations and transmission lines worth several hundred crores for the prestigious Kaleshwaram project of Rs. 1.15 Lakh crore and Rajat Kumar is heading the Irrigation and Command Area Development Department as Special Chief Secretary, Revanth said in a letter to chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao.
The TPCC chief said it was surprising that even after 48 hours of publication of news items by the news portal, the Chief Minister’s Office did not issue any denial or clarification although the Chief Minister himself holds the Irrigation portfolio.
The news report said the five-day marriage ceremonies were held in Hyderabad's top hotels including a banquet at the luxurious Taj Falaknuma Palace.
A significant part of the expenses was billed to BigWave Infra Pvt Ltd., Further investigations revealed that the address of the company in the Bahadurpura area of Hyderabad's Old City was fake.
Some top executives of the MEIL were intimately involved in the bookings at hotels Taj Krishna, Taj Deccan and Taj Falaknuma the venues and other liaison works. They used their company email IDs and also a dummy email ID, he said.
"The invoices were raised in the name of two companies - Interactive Data Systems and BigWave Infra Private Limited, which was created in June 2021. The directors of Interactive Data Systems are also on the boards of various MEIL companies.
The report also claimed that the preliminary talks for the bookings were conducted by Rajat Kumar himself and later, the bureaucrat’s Officer on Special Duty (OSD), Prabhakar Rao coordinated all the arrangements along with two MEIL executives," Revanth said in the open letter.
“I request you to kindly order a judicial probe into the allegations to ascertain the nexus between Rajat Kumar and MEIL. It must be clarified whether Rajat Kumar took favours by making the MEIL or its shell companies or other companies pay his private bills?
Was it done on a Quid Pro Quo basis and what favors did he return to those companies by making them pay bills of over Rs. 50 Lakh?
Even if the allegations are false, the Chief Minister must ask Rajat Sharma to reveal the sources of money which were used to pay the exorbitant bills?
If the allegations are true then a case of corruption should be booked against Rajat Kumar and other officials involved in the wedding planning," he demanded.
