•December 3: Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) officials unearth assets worth Rs 5 crore from Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Assistant City Planner L Bikshapathi including 26 residential plots.

•December 18: ACB arrests Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Town Planning Supervisor P Srinivas Das after it unearthed assets worth Rs 1.14 crore during raids at his residence and office besides Rs 29 lakhs in cash.

The magnitude of disproportionate assets amassed by engineers of government departments, particularly those of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has raised several eyebrows, even in the seasoned ACB.

What has come as a shock is that apart from the discovery of assets like land and houses, the usual suspects in such raids, these raids have thrown up hordes of the choicest luxury items. Collections of watches of top international brands like Rado and Gucci, gold-tipped Cross and Mont Blanc pens, chunks of gold, teak wood and marble stone godowns and multi-storied apartments are some of the assets owned by these government employees.

“It clearly shows the kind of lifestyle these officials were leading in spite of having a very limited legal income. They had become used to brazen indulgences in everything that is the most luxurious and expensive,” says ACB Director General of Police Girish Kumar.

•December 24: ACB unearths disproportionate assets worth Rs 3.32 crore during raids at the residence and offices of Irrigation Department Deputy Executive Engineer O Govind Reddy.

•December 28: Assets worth Rs 1.61 crore unearthed from Chief Engineer of the Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) Vivek Deshmukh, including a collection of luxury wrist watches.