At house in Hyderabad’s Gachibowli, he was elevating their three-year-old son, Agastya, alone. The household’s struggles had been quiet and personal, so the information of a proper police grievance and being known as in for questioning hit him exhausting.
He visited the police station that very night, however the officer dealing with the case wasn’t obtainable. When he returned the subsequent afternoon, he was advised a case had been filed 4 days earlier. The fees: cruelty by husband, assault and prison intimidation. He was not lone accused; his 63-year-old mom, Adepu Vijaya, residing in Kazipet of Warangal district, round 200 kilometres from Hyderabad, was additionally named within the grievance.
“My mom is the only caregiver for my ailing father and had no position in my disagreements with Swathi. Yet her title was on the FIR,” remembers Nikhil. When he defined the household state of affairs to the police officer, the dialog reportedly took a unique flip.
On June 25, throughout one other go to to the police station, the officer allegedly hinted at a repair: reconcile with Swathi and pay ₹50,000 to have his mom’s title dropped. When Nikhil refused, the demand dropped to ₹25,000, the calls urgent tougher every time.
Two weeks later, Nikhil walked into the station once more. This time, with officers of the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) trailing behind. The lure was swift; the officer was caught with the money.
His case is now amongst 22 booked by Telangana ACB in July 2025 alone, which is a part of a broader tally of 148 circumstances in seven months, 145 arrests, and over ₹30.32 lakh seized.
In a State the place corruption is commonly exhausting to show and tougher to prosecute, the case highlights how bizarre households, already grappling with private crises, will be additional ensnared by abuse of energy, leaving them both silenced or, in uncommon moments, emboldened to battle again.
The lengthy highway to justice
For most individuals, strolling into an ACB workplace is way from a routine go to. They arrive anxious, hesitant and even scared, uncertain if talking out will convey change or invite bother.
It begins with a grievance, often handwritten or typed, submitted on the native ACB vary workplace or by way of the bureau’s on-line portal. Most allege {that a} authorities official demanded a bribe for a service presupposed to be supplied as a matter of proper. Once filed, the ACB verifies the declare, looking for proof resembling recordings, chats or different proof. If the bribe hasn’t been paid, officers could plan a lure.
The operation is exact: mediators are organized, the complainant is fitted with a hidden recorder and forex notes dusted with a chemical powder known as phenolphthalein are handed over. When touched, the powder leaves traces seen in a chemical take a look at, with all the alternate captured on digital camera.
If the handover succeeds, the accused is caught ‘red-handed’, taken into custody and booked beneath the Prevention of Corruption Act. Press notes and photographs observe, however the actual work begins behind the scenes.
The ACB compiles a case file which incorporates enquiry reviews, witness and accused statements, forensic outcomes and lure footage, after which sends it to the Vigilance Commission for vetting. To proceed, prosecution sanction — authorized nod earlier than the chargesheet will be filed in courtroom — should come from the accused officer’s division, a course of meant to be impartial however not often swift.
After arrest, the ACB additionally recommends the officer’s speedy suspension for 2 years as per its personal guide and authorities orders. On paper, it’s computerized; in follow, it usually isn’t.
Promotions, plum posts, repeat offenders
Despite a gentle rise in ACB circumstances, systemic deterrence stays weak. Many accused officers face little consequence, securing plum postings and, in some circumstances, incomes promotions whereas proceedings drag on.
On July 12, Panchayat Raj Assistant Engineer Jagadeesh Babu was trapped by the ACB in Peddapalli whereas accepting bribe of ₹90,000. He had earlier been booked in 2017 for allegedly taking ₹1.5 lakh in Karimnagar, but continued in service and secured a primary posting.
“This just isn’t an remoted incident,” says Padmanabh Reddy, president of the Forum for Good Governance, a non-profit working in direction of securing good governance in any respect ranges. “There are a number of authorities staff who’ve been caught greater than as soon as however nothing occurs to them, due to the file-pushing tradition,” he provides.
Promotions, although technically on maintain beneath the “sealed cowl” rule, are sometimes granted when officers method the courts or departmental overview committees. Without a chargesheet filed inside a “cheap” timeframe, many efficiently argue that promotions can’t be withheld.
In one occasion, a Deputy Commercial Tax Officer (DCTO), posted within the workplace of the Joint Commissioner, Malkajgiri, who was booked by ACB in 2013, obtained a courtroom order recommending promotion to Assistant Commissioner, with the case nonetheless pending 11 years later. In one other case, a girl CTO dealing with disciplinary fees since 2017 was equally beneficial for promotion. The sample is obvious: institutional delays, poor follow-up and authorized loopholes blunt the influence of corruption circumstances.
The bureaucratic backdoor
Even with lure movies, restoration of tainted money and written complaints, an ACB case not often strikes in a straight line to conviction.
In 2024, the bureau booked 152 circumstances — highest in three years — however secured solely 16 convictions. Officials say the conviction charge is 60-70%, but most trials stretch for 7-8 years. “These circumstances characterize solely 5% of precise corruption within the State,” says Reddy. “Everyone is aware of it’ll take 8-10 years, if in any respect, to achieve a conclusion, so even the accused deal with the proceedings with little seriousness.”
Structural deficiency, he says, makes the method slower. Bail comes inside two weeks of arrest, suspension is reviewed in six months and plenty of officers are reinstated quickly after.
Interestingly, proper from the day of suspension, the accused official attracts half-salary and 75% dearness allowance, and receives full pay after six months. If the departmental overview committee finds no sturdy motive to increase the suspension, which Reddy says is widespread, they’re posted again to work.
“In most circumstances, the committee simply lets it go. Since the accused officer needs to be paid all the wage after six months, the federal government prefers they arrive again on job,” says a senior official of ACB on situation of anonymity.
Early reinstatement occurs in 5-6% of circumstances, says one other ACB official. A current Supreme Court ruling, stating that suspension shouldn’t exceed six months until a chargesheet is filed, has additional opened the door for accused officers to return early by way of committee orders or courtroom appeals. “There must be readability and reconciliation on this subject,” the official provides.
Prosecution sanction is one other bottleneck the place delays spiral: “Unless the report is hermetic, legally and procedurally, the file can get caught.”
If the Vigilance Commission flags gaps, recordsdata are despatched again; in some circumstances, the federal government withholds sanction altogether, ending the matter with out a trial. Political or departmental hyperlinks can additional decelerate motion
.According to Reddy, the State authorities denied ACB permission to prosecute in not less than 40 circumstances between 2014 and 2015 alone.
“Since then, not less than 13 FIRs have been closed and 6 circumstances dropped solely. In many different circumstances, iles have merely been routed to ‘departmental motion’; ‘tribunal disciplinary proceedings’, which has remained largely inactive as a consequence of employees shortages or the ‘Commissioner of Inquiries’, usually led by a retired officer with restricted capability,” he says.
Internal inquiries usually contain officers recognized to the accused, leading to cursory questioning and little to zero disciplinary motion.
And when a case does make it to courtroom, judicial delays take over.
Weak hyperlinks within the chain
Until just lately, Telangana had just one particular ACB courtroom in Nampally, Hyderabad. Two extra have been arrange in Warangal and Karimnagar, however backlogs stay excessive. “The Nampally courtroom is overburdened. There aren’t any common judges, trials are delayed, and pendency retains rising,” an ACB official says.
Structural limitations additionally proceed to weaken investigations. “For misappropriation circumstances, we frequently take care of a whole lot of pages of financial institution statements, digital transactions and layered monetary knowledge. We want extra forensic consultants, skilled analysts, higher labs and upgraded instruments, however our assets are stretched skinny and delays in reviews are routine,” an official notes.
Reddy says the bureau’s staffing mindset should change. “An ACB posting continues to be seen as a punishment. Like different specialised items, ACB personnel ought to get particular allowances or incentives,” he stresses.
Legal consultants warn that the larger menace lies in exploiting procedural loopholes that permits accused officers to return to service with minimal penalties. “Removal from service is the one actual deterrent, but it surely nearly by no means occurs,” says a prison lawyer on the Nampally courtroom.
He asserts that many delays are deliberate: FIRs and mediators’ reviews in lure circumstances are prepared, but departments take 100 days or extra to file a chargesheet that may very well be achieved in 30. :That delay itself weakens the case,” he says.
In the meantime, accused officers usually safe reinstatement by means of High Court or tribunal orders, he provides. Poor prosecution is one other weak spot, he rues: “Public prosecutors dealing with ACB circumstances are sometimes poorly skilled and lack the authorized experience to match the defence. If we’re severe about securing convictions, we’d like our greatest attorneys on such circumstances.” Advocate Immaneni Rama Rao echoes comparable issues, noting that political and bureaucratic interference continues to compromise accountability. “There is a lackadaisical method relating to sure people. That selective leniency creates public suspicion,” he says.
While know-how and on-line portals have improved reporting, he warns that until the position of influential State actors is reined in, structural protections will proceed to defend tainted officers.
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