The Hyderabad Central Crime Station officials have arrested Dr. B. Lakshmi , a former director at the Administrative Staff College of India , on charges of embezzling nearly Rs88 lakh by submitting fake invoices. The arrest came after a complaint was filed by B. Jagadesh Kumar, the Administrative Officer of ASCI, accusing Lakshmi of forgery, cheating, and criminal breach of trust.
According to the CCS police, Dr. Lakshmi, who worked as an adjunct professor before being appointed as director after her retirement, was responsible for overseeing training programs and projects at ASCI between 2021 and 2024. During this period, she allegedly exploited her position to secure support services for these programs and projects, creating fake invoices to siphon off funds.
“She was authorized to engage support service agencies or vendors for various programs, based on need and competency criteria,” said CCS officials. “However, suspicions arose regarding some of her vendor activities, leading to an internal enquiry that uncovered the fraud.”
The internal committee, responsible for verifying vendors and their credentials, summoned several consultants and vendors for Know Your Customer (KYC) verification, but they failed to appear. The committee found that payments were made to vendors who did not provide the promised services. Further investigations revealed that these vendors had allegedly submitted false experience certificates, in collaboration with Dr. Lakshmi, to deceive the institution.
In addition to Dr. Lakshmi, CCS officials are actively pursuing other suspects involved in the scam, including Sheik Abhisheik Imlak, B. Shruthi, M. Burraiah, M. Lakshmi Dhana, and Rajini Nalamasa.