Upa-Lokayukta of Andhra Pradesh P. Rajani on Monday (September 08, 2025) directed the State government to credit the genuine General Provident Fund (GPF) amount into the respective accounts of High-Level Canal employees following complaints regarding fraudulent withdrawals. The Institution also directed the government to initiate criminal and departmental action against the erring officials.

The Upa-Lokayukta received two complaints relating to large-scale fraud in the withdrawal of GPF amounts in the office of High-Level Canal (HLC), Letter of Credit (LOC) Division Anantapur. The investigation revealed that officials, by creating duplicate beneficiary IDs, diverted the GPF amounts into fake bank accounts, causing financial loss and mental agony to the complainants, an official release issued here on Monday said.

The inquiry disclosed that GPF part final withdrawal of ₹10 lakh belonging to G. Jaya Bharathi, Assistant Executive Engineer, and GPF final payment of ₹17.14 lakh of D.V. Ramasanjanna, retired Deputy Executive Engineer, were wrongly credited to accounts not related to them. The fraud was carried out by a junior assistant in connivance with other officers, because of lapse in supervision and failure to verify beneficiary details.

Taking serious note of this misconduct, the Institution directed the government to credit the genuine GPF amounts to the respective accounts of the complainants without waiting for the outcome of disciplinary proceedings, and to initiate criminal and departmental action against the erring officials, including the then executive engineers, superintendents, and junior assistants of the High-Level Canal (HLC) Letter of Credit (LOC) Division and examine the lapses in the CFMS portal operations and fix accountability wherever due.

Following the Institutions orders, the Government has settled the complainants GPF dues into their rightful accounts and permitted payment of interest on delayed settlement at 7.1 per cent instead of 12 per cent pending approval of Head of Account mapping.

Further, disciplinary proceedings have been initiated against K. Venkata Ramana Reddy, the then executive engineer, A. Venkata Suresh Babu and P.Md. Usman, the then superintendents, A. Pravesh Kumar, the then junior assistant, K. Subramanyam (Retd), the then superintendent; and a criminal case was registered under Sections 420, 406, and 409 IPC read with Section 34 IPC. During the course of investigation of the case, the police arrested Pravesh Kumar and sent him to judicial custody.