Just three days before his retirement, Golla Venkata Raghurami Reddy, director of state town planning in municipal administration department, in Andhra Pradesh’s Visakhapatnam was arrested by the anti-corruption bureau (ACB) on Monday night for allegedly amassing assets worth over Rs 500 crore.

The arrest came after ACB authorities raided his house and other properties in 15 places, including Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Tirupati, and Maharashtra’s Shirdi. The ACB authorities also raided the houses of his cousin Vijayawada town planning AO Venkata Sivaprasad and other relatives, who were acting as “benamis” of Reddy.

Golla Venkata Raghurami Reddy also owns a hotel, Sai Suraj Kunj, in Shirdi and 300 acres of valuable land in Gannavaram near Vijayawada among other properties. ACB officers also found Rs 50 lakh in cash at Reddy’s residence.

ACB director general RP Thakur said the raids, which began on Monday morning, would continue on Tuesday as well. The market value of the assets confiscated so far has been estimated to be around Rs 500 crore.

“We are yet to open the bank lockers of Reddy. Only after that, we would be able to arrive at the magnitude of the wealth,” he said.

“Reddy was arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act for possessing assets disproportionate to his income, which would be around Rs 1 lakh per month. The investigation is going on into the alleged irregularities indulged in by Reddy,” the official said.

This raid and seizure created flutters not only inside government circle but also across the state.