Chennai

The officials had sanctioned labour charges for such four non-existing ponds under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) in 2014-15.

The suspects include the then assistant engineer KK Srinivasan, Vennandur block; P Murugan, then overseer; M Shanmughan, junior engineer; besides the then BDO, executive engineer (rural development) along with then panchayat presidents and secretaries.

The accused in connivance with each other and in gross violation of the norms created false documents by making false entries in the measurement book, asset register and all relevant records and also fraudulently enclosed photographs of some other farm pond as if the same was constructed in the land specified, the DVAC noted.

The accused allegedly made payments to labourers through their bank accounts for work, which was never carried out, and collected Rs 250 per payment from each of them as illegal gratification, the DVAC noted.

During the inquiry, the DVAC sleuths found that the officials had fraudulently shown work for at least four ponds in two panchayats and distributed lakhs of rupees to workers only to collect back a share from each of them.