State Chief Secretary Pankaj Dwivedi issued the suspension order on receiving a report from the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) about Srilakshmi’s arrest, official sources said.
The order came to be issued after Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy cleared the relevant file last evening, sources in the General Administration Department said.
Srilakshmi held the post of Commissioner, Family Welfare at the time of the arrest.
She was Secretary, Industries, when she issued the controversial orders granting ore mining leases to Obulapuram Mining Company, owned by former Karnataka ministe Gali Janardhana Reddy (a co-accused in the present case) in Anantapur district.
The orders allegedly favoured OMC over the rival bidders, CBI says. Currently she is in CBI's custody.
Her husband, M Gopi Krishna, is an Indian Police Service officer of 1987 batch, currently serving as Inspector General of Police in the state Crime Investigation Department.