CBI nabs railway official in Secunderabad over Rs 10k weekly bribe demand, audio clip seals case

U Sudhakar Reddy / TNN / Apr 9, 2025, 07:12 IST

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The CBI has filed a case against T. V. Chandrakanth, a Chief Commercial Inspector at Secunderabad Railway Station, following bribery allegations. Contractor Katta Ashok Kumar claimed Chandrakanth demanded weekly ₹10,000 bribes, threatening penalties and contract termination for non-compliance. An audio recording allegedly captured Chandrakanth accepting ₹3,000 via Google Pay.

CBI nabs railway official in Secunderabad over Rs 10k weekly bribe demand, audio clip seals case

HYDERABAD: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) registered a case against T. V. Chandrakanth, chief commercial inspector at Secunderabad Railway Station, following a complaint by Katta Ashok Kumar, Manager for parking contractor Boora Yellaswamy.
The complaint, submitted on February 13, 2025, alleged that Chandrakanth demanded illegal gratification of Rs 10,000 weekly from the contractor. The complainant stated that the accused used his official position to threaten contractors with severe penalties, premature termination of contracts, and criminal charges through the Railway Protection Force or govt Railway Police stations if bribes were not paid.
Ashok Kumar also alleged that Chandrakanth cited having to pay Rs 1,00,000 per month to senior officers as justification for extracting weekly bribes. The complainant claimed the parking business at Platform No. 10 of Secunderabad Railway Station was running into losses due to these demands.
Audio evidence, suspicious transactions found

CBI’s verification of the complaint revealed that Chandrakanth demanded bribes and allegedly received payments through bank accounts held by family members. Investigation into the bank account of the daughter of the accused revealed suspicious financial transactions.
An audio recording dated February 6, 2025, submitted by the complainant, captured Chandrakanth allegedly accepting Rs 3,000 via Google Pay. The payment was linked to the same bank account held by his daughter. The recording corroborated claims that Chandrakanth was receiving bribes in connection with parking facility operations.
Searches conducted at 2 Hyderabad locations
Based on the complaint and subsequent verification, CBI booked a case under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. The govt of Telangana accorded consent for registration of the case.
The govt of India ratified this via the Department of Personnel and Training order on April 3, 2025. CBI conducted searches at two premises linked to Chandrakanth in Hyderabad. Officials recovered documents considered incriminating.

About the Author

U Sudhakar Reddy

Sudhakar Reddy Udumula is the Editor (Investigation) at the Times of India, Hyderabad. Following the trail of migration and drought across the rustic landscape of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, Sudhakar reported extensively on government apathy, divisive politics, systemic gender discrimination, agrarian crisis and the will to survive great odds. His curiosity for peeking behind the curtain triumphed over the criminal agenda of many scamsters in the highest political and corporate circles, making way for breaking stories such as Panama Papers Scam, Telgi Stamp Paper Scam, and many others. His versatility in reporting extended to red corridors of left-wing extremism where the lives of security forces and the locals in Maoist-affected areas were key points of investigation. His knack for detail provided crucial evidence of involvement from overseas in terrorist bombings in Hyderabad.

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