Adilabad: ACB officials arrested the then Asifabad RDO and a Deputy Tahsildar and two others for diverting funds worth Rs 4.32 crore that were to be given to farmers as compensation for land acquired for the construction of a national highway.

According to the ACB official sources, the accused ensured the compensation amount was transferred into the bank accounts of their relatives. Siddam Dattu, ex-Asifabad RDO and now Warangal RDO, Deputy Tahsildar Meshram Nagarao, working in Asifabad RDO office, and two realtors were held Saturday night. Dattu has been named as A-1 in the case.

According to the remand report mandal surveyor J Bharath, who is A-3 in the case, hatched a plan to get the money meant as compensation for farmers, by conniving with realtors Subba Shambudas and Thujalpuram Laxmi Narayana. The ACB filed cases against as many as seven persons in the case. A-3 J Bharath, mandal surveyor and two others were absconding.

ACB received a petition in April this year about the issue. An investigation by ACB officials revealed that in 2016, the government decided to construct a four-lane highway from Mancherial to Lakadkod of Maharashtra through lands in Janakpur of Asifabad situated in survey numbers 9 and 10.