Varma allowed into ACB, but not SIT

HYDERABAD: After a week of suspense over whether IPS officer C Ravi Varma will be allowed to join the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) by ACB chief D Boobathi Babu, Varma finally took charge of his new assignment of joint director, ACB on Saturday.He has, however, been posted as JD, Administration, which means that he will have no role to play in investigation of any case, including the liquor syndicate case.Sources said Varma walked into the ACB office on Saturday morning and took charge of his assignment. Though, initially, the proposal was to post him as joint director, Telangana or Andhra region, Boobathi Babu appears to have had the final say.“Boobathi Babu decided not to include Ravi Varma in the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing the liquor syndicate scam,” sources said.Soon after the government had issued orders posting Ravi Varma to the ACB, Boobathi Babu shot off a letter to the General Administration Department (GAD) that he was unwilling to have Varma in the ACB, on the ground that he had a ‘’questionable track record.’’The govt, taken aback by Boobathi Babu’s move, is then understood to have told the ACB chief that the government’s word is final and he has no other option but to take him in. “Boobathi Babu relented after he was assured that the choice of including Varma in SIT would be left to him,” sources said. For Ravi Varma this is the second stint in the ACB. He was ACB joint director sometime back.Sources said that Boobathi Babu has given strict instructions to those involved in the liquor syndicate probe not to reveal anything even to their colleagues in the ACB.