Andhra cop who headed CID during Naidu’s arrest suspended for fund misappropriation

1996-batch IPS officer N Sanjay has been accused of making excess payments by colluding with a private firm

HYDERABAD: Senior Andhra Pradesh police officer N Sanjay, who led the Criminal Investigation Department when Telugu Desam Party (TDP) president and chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu was arrested in September 2023, has been suspended in connection with allegations of misappropriation of funds, an official order issued on Tuesday said.

The government order said N Sanjay’s suspension was ordered under Rule 3(1) of the All-India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969. (FILE PHOTO)

A government order issued by chief secretary Neerabh Kumar Prasad said Sanjay was suspended based on an inquiry report by the state vigilance and enforcement department into acts of omission and commission when he was Director General of AP State Disaster Response and Fire Services and the Additional Director of CID.

The GO said the suspension was ordered under Rule 3(1) of the All-India Services (Discipline and Appeal) Rules, 1969.

Sanjay has been told to remain in Vijayawada and has been prohibited from leaving without government approval till the inquiry is completed.

According to the order, Sanjay, during his tenure in the fire services department, was found responsible for floating tenders for creating a web portal and supply of hardware. He allegedly colluded with a private firm to make payments, although the firm completed only 14 per cent of the work.

“Sanjay made payment to the extent of ₹1.19 crore to the private firm, which reportedly spent only ₹3.1 lakh on the workshop. This resulted in the embezzlement of approximately ₹1.15 crore in government funds,” the GO said.

The report also accused Sanjay of making payments for a Hyderabad-based firm to conduct a workshop on awareness for SCs and STs. However, the inquiry found that there was no such company at the given address in Hyderabad.

Sanjay headed the state’s CID last year when the agency arrested Chandrababu Naidu on September 9 at Nandyal for his alleged involvement in an alleged scam in the AP Skill Development Corporation during his TDP’s regime from 20014 to 2019.

Sanjay is the fourth senior IPS officer to face suspension after Naidu became the chief minister after the TDP in coalition with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and actor-politician Pawan Kalyan’s JanaSena Party, came to power in the southern state this summer.