Despite booking a good number of corruption cases against government staff, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) of Telangana has failed to prevent staff from demanding and taking bribes, pointed out a report by Forum for Good Governance (FGG), a Hyderabad-based advocacy group. The FGG filed an application under the Right to Information (RTI) Act to obtain details of the cases the agency filed over the last five years, from July 2020 to July 2025.
As per RTI data presented by the FGG, while a total of 621 cases were filed, the ACB completed the investigation in 519 cases and sent the files for the government’s permission for prosecution. “Most files don’t get government permission and are shunted to departmental enquiry, which could be manipulated,” explained M. Padmanabha Reddy, president of FGG.
Even when departmental or government action is taken, the courts take five to 15 years to decide the cases. Employees, meanwhile, manage concerned officials and evade punishment. “Government employees have no fear of ACB. They think they can manage even if they are caught,” pointed out Reddy.
Prof G. Surrender Reddy, who has extensive experience in the government sector, backed the concern. Many government employees believe the ACB will not reach them, and even if it does, they know they can circumvent the process. “Everybody likes a bribe; it is important to make corruption a difficult choice,” he said.
The FGG report also highlighted the ACB’s reluctance to make the progress of corruption cases public. “The ACB is not updating the details of progress in the cases on their website; that’s why we had to file the RTI application. Our request for specific case details was denied, citing workload as the reason,” said Mr Reddy.
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When THE WEEK visited the ACB website, 442 FIRs filed between 2016 and 2024 could be seen, and access to each FIR is granted after entering one-time passwords (OTPs) sent to the phone. However, the current status of the cases could not be seen.
When asked for her comments on the ACB losing its preventive effect on government officials and staff, Charu Sinha, the director general of ACB, Telangana, refused to comment. The ACB cases can have any meaningful effect only if the bribe cases reach the prosecution stage quickly and the accused face severe punishments, including strict recovery, dismissal and jail terms.