Andhra Assembly furniture recovered from ex-Speaker

Amaravati, Aug 26 (IANS) Andhra Pradesh Police and Legislative Assembly officials on Monday recovered Assembly furniture allegedly diverted by then Speaker Kodela Siva Prasad Rao.

Police, Revenue and Assembly officials recovered several items from Gowtam Hero showroom belonging to Sivaprasad Rao's son Sivarama Krishna in Guntur.

The recovery was made a day after police booked Rao and his son for allegedly diverting furniture belonging to the Assembly to unauthorised places.

Assembly officials had identified the furniture at the showroom three days ago and it was late Saturday that they lodged a complaint with the police.

A police official said 70 items were identified at the showroom and this number was higher than the list given provided by the Assembly officials.

A case under Indian Penal Code sections 409 (cheating by personation) and 411 (dishonestly receiving stolen property) was booked against father-son duo at Thullur police station in Guntur district on a complaint by M. Eswara Rao, an officer of Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly.

Earlier on Monday, Rao moved the High Court seeking direction to the state government to take away the furniture from his office. He claimed that he had written to Assembly officials in June to take away the furniture but no action was taken.

The government submitted to the court that its arguments be heard. The hearing was postponed to Tuesday.

Rao recently admitted that while shifting Assembly furniture and equipment to Amaravati from Hyderabad in 2016, some of it was taken to his office-cum-residence in Sattenapalli. He said this was done for the safety and maintenance as the furniture could have got spoilt in the temporary Assembly building.

The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) leader, who was defeated in the recent Assembly elections, also claimed that he wrote to Legislature Secretary asking him to take the furniture. He also offered to pay for the furniture.