Regardless of the truce brokered between chief minister Kiran Kumar Reddy and PCC chief Botcha Satyanarayana, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) stepped up the pace of its probe into liquor syndicates and arrested two more persons: a syndicate operative and an ACB inspector in Medak district. The inspector was found to have been leaking information on ACB raids to liquor traders.

Simultaneously, ACB personnel raided several premises in Vizianagaram -- PCC president Botcha Satyanarayana’s native district, where he is said to hold interests in the liquor business -- and took into custody seven persons alleged to be liquor licencees.

Unconfirmed reports suggested that at least 17 persons were taken into custody. Sources said that the detainees were likely to be produced in court later Saturday. The gates of the ACB’s local office were closed from afternoon while they were interrogated.

Although a slowdown of the probe had been widely expected after Congress brokered a truce between Kiran Kumar and Satyanarayana, the anti-corruption agency appeared to be moving ahead with the probe ahead of the April 16 deadline for filing an affidavit on its action in the High Court.

In Medak district, ACB officials arrested a liquor syndicate operative Vaddepally Mohan Reddy and ACB inspector B Somnarayan Singh. They were produced in the special court for ACB cases in Hyderabad and remanded to judicial custody till April 17. The agency’s director-general D Boobathi Babu said Mohan Reddy holds a stake in 15 liquor shops. Somnarayan Singh, formerly posted in Medak, is alleged to have tipped off Mohan Reddy about ACB raids in December 2011.