Hyderabad: Principal special judge for SPE & ACB cases, Hyderabad, has dismissed the bail petition of DSP S Bheem Reddy, accused in an alleged disproportionate assets (DA) case.The accused claimed that he only owned a small farm land in Proddatur village near Shankarpally whose value at the time of its registration in 2022 was Rs 25,000. He claimed that the ACB had tagged properties belonging to third parties in his name to implicate him in the DA case. Countering his claims, the ACB said that the accused had used benamis to evade law enforcement agencies and requested the court to dismiss the petition.Bheem Reddy was remanded in judicial custody on July 7 in the DA case. Subsequently, he moved a bail petition before ACB special court on July 14.According to the prosecution’s remand case diary, Bheem Reddy, who joined govt service in 1995, allegedly amassed assets worth over ₹9 crore, disproportionate to his known sources of income. The list does not include about 47 acres of agricultural land in the name of his alleged benamis in Zaheerabad area of Telangana, Karnataka and a few more properties in the city.“If all the benami assets are included, the market value of the alleged disproportionate assets would be about Rs 150 crore,” an ACB official said.Bheem Reddy’s counsel had argued that several properties attributed to him actually belonged to third parties. They also argued that the grounds of arrest were not properly furnished and, citing his deteriorating health, sought bail on medical and humanitarian grounds.The prosecution informed the court that during the search of Bheem Reddy’s residence on July 2, they recovered a mobile phone belonging to his wife, which contained images of a handwritten note of a list of properties. “Property list pertaining to assets, investments and debts of the accused officer and members of his family was found. The entries noted in the list are found to be tallying with the evidence collected during the DA case investigation,” the court observed, while referring to the prosecution’s submission.After verifying the medical records and other evidence, the court noted that while Bheem Reddy had been advised a coronary angiogram, there was no claim that he was being denied adequate medical care in judicial custody. The court also observed that the ownership disputes over the properties could only be resolved through a full trial, not at the bail stage.Calling the case a serious socio-economic offence, the court cited the pending state of investigation and the severity of potential punishment, which extends up to 10 years’ imprisonment, and dismissed the petition on Aug 3.
