Chennai: Ex-T Nagar MLA, Corporation officials booked for embezzling govt funds worth Rs 35.6 lakh

CHENNAI: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has booked former T Nagar MLA B Sathyanarayan alias T Nagar Sathya and six others including five Chennai corporation officers for alleged misappropriation of the Constituency Development Fund to the tune of Rs 35.6 lakh during the financial year 2018-2019.

Apart from Sathya, the vigilance department has booked former assistant engineers in Kodambakkam zone, V Elangovam, M Manirja, G Radhakrishnan, V Periyasamy, then Zonal officer (Kodambakkam) S Natarajan, and a private individual, V A Baskaran, who runs a store at the Koyambedu fruit market in the city.

In September last year, Sathyanarayanan was booked for allegedly accumulating assets disproportionate to his known sources of income. The police also raided his residence in Chennai and other places in Coimbatore and Tiruvallur. The DVAC said the ex-MLA had a disproportionate wealth worth Rs 2.64 crore, which is 16% more than the income from his known sources.

In the recent case, in one instance, the accused had falsifed documents to show an old building housing a fair price shop in Mambalam as a newly constructed building and misappropriated funds to the tune of Rs 13.3 lakh, the DVAC said. 

In three other cases, they built substandard buildings on Brindavan Street and Eswaran Koil Street in Kodambakkam.

A detailed inquiry revealed that Sathyanarayanan and the other accused had misappropriated funds to the tune of Rs. 35,68,426 after which the DVAC booked them under various sections of the IPC including 120 (B) (criminal conspiracy), 167 (public servant framing an incorrect document), 406 (criminal breach of trust), 420 (cheating), and sections of the Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act.

Further investigation is underway.