Engg’s kin disowns flats, bolsters ACB’s DA case | page 1Hyderabad: Nearly a month into the Anti-Corruption Bureau’s (ACB) investigation into the alleged disproportionate assets (DA) case against roads and buildings engineer-in-chief Mohan Naik, his sister-in-law, Padmini Devi, who is suspected to be one of his benamis, has reportedly told investigators that two flats registered in her name were purchased at Mohan’s instance and do not belong to her.Of the seven flats allegedly linked to Mohan, two are located near the DLF building in Gachibowli. The ACB found that these flats were registered in Padmini Devi’s name. However, during questioning, she reportedly denied ownership of the properties.“She claimed though the two flats are in her name, they do not belong to her. At Mohan’s request, she went to the sub-registrar’s office in Serilingampally and executed the sale deeds,” sources in ACB told TOI.Investigators have since informed a local court in Nampally about her statement. The two flats were purchased for Rs 2.44 crore.‘Engg invested in power project through benamis’ | page 3Officials said in disproportionate assets cases, alleged benamis rarely disown properties registered in their names, as doing so could weaken the defence of the accused. In this case, however, one of the alleged benamis has reportedly made statements that appear to corroborate the investigators’ findings.The ACB has also found that Mohan invested in a power project through benamis. During the investigation, officials recovered receipts relating to several property transactions involving Mohan and his alleged benamis.These include a ₹67 lakh advance paid for a flat in Hi-Tec City and ₹1 crore paid towards the purchase of a villa in Nizamabad, besides documents relating to other property transactions.Earlier, the ACB estimated the value of assets allegedly amassed by Mohan at around ₹17 crore, while noting that their current market value could be higher.Investigators found that since 1995, Mohan’s known income was about ₹3.94 crore, while his expenditure stood at around ₹3.89 crore. Despite this, he allegedly accumulated assets worth ₹17 crore, far exceeding his known sources of income, according to ACB.
