ACB quizzes Mopidevi in 'liquor scam'

Andhra Pradesh Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) today grilled former Excise minister Mopidevi Venkataramana Rao at Chanchalguda jail in Hyderabad as part of its ongoing investigations into liquor scandal.

A four-member ACB team questioned the former minister for about five hours in the premises of Chanchalguda Central prison today, sources said.

He was questioned as per a court direction and his interrogation will continue tomorrow as well, according to sources. ACB sleuths have been conducting raids across the state since December last after exposing the liquor mafia -politicians-officials nexus with the arrest of Nunna Venkata Ramana, suspected to have led the liquor syndicate, from Khammam district. Nunna allegedly claimed that he had paid a bribe of Rs 10 lakh to Mopidevi. The ongoing ACB probe has revealed that liquor 'syndicate' members were running shops in the names of 'white' ration card holders who could not have had the financial resources to pay for licences.
The agency has also arrested several excise officials since March on the charge of subverting the tender process for allotment of liquor shops, and also some police officials, for allegedly having links with the liquor mafia. In its preliminary report before the AP High Court, the ACB, which formed a Special Investigation Team to probe the case, had claimed that some big-wigs politicians have obtained liquor licenses under bogus names.

- PTI