Thaindian News

Hyderabad, Feb 1 (IANS) The Andhra Pradesh government Wednesday suspended Home Secretary B.P. Acharya, who has been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Emaar-APIIC township scam.

Two days after the senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer was arrested, Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi issued an order suspending him.

As per the rules, a government employee is suspended if he or she spends 48 hours in detention.

Acharya, who was admitted to a hospital Tuesday after he complained of chest pain, was discharged Wednesday night. He was produced before a magistrate, who remanded him to judicial custody till Feb 15.

The CBI has shifted him to its makeshift office Dilkusha guest house. He would be sent to Chanchalguda Central Jail Thursday.

Acharya, the number one accused in the scam, was suspended on a day when the CBI filed a charge sheet against him and 11 others.

As the then vice chairman managing director of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation (APIIC), Acharya had allegedly diluted the equity of APIIC in a joint venture formed with Emaar Properties to develop an upscale township in Hyderabad. This caused huge losses to the state government.

Acharya is the second IAS official in the state to be suspended after his arrest. In November last year, the government had suspended Y. Srilakshmi after her arrest in an illegal mining case involving former Karnataka minister G. Janardhana Reddy.