Dy BDO, panchayat secretary take bribe for plan approval, held

The officials were arrested under the Prevention of Corruption Act for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe of Rs 25,000 to approve a building plan. DVAC officials identified the arrested as Boopathy (48), deputy BDO of Tiruporur, who also functions as manager of the block development office; and Vadivel (40), secretary of Pudupakkam village panchayat. 

The suspects, on behalf of the BDO, demanded Rs 25,000 from Prabhakaran, a resident of Adyar and captain/radio officer in merchant navy, for approving the plan for his building in Pudupakkam village, DVAC said. Not willing to pay the bribe, Prabhakaran approached the DVAC with a compliant. 

The vigilance team then decided to set a trap for the officers. As per instruction from the DVAC team, Prabhakaran pretended to agree to paying the bribe. On Tuesday morning, a DVAC team, led by DSP Lavakumar, reached the BDO office civilian clothes after instructing Prabhakaran to hand over the amount to the officers. 

Prabhakaran went to Pudupakkam village panchayat office and the secretary Vadivel took him to the Tiruporur BDO office and they handed over the money to Boopathy. When they were counting the money, the waiting DVAC sleuths stormed into the office and seized the chemical-laced currency notes from them and arrested them. 

Later, raids were carried out in their offices. Both were remanded in judicial custody by the DVAC team. Investigation also revealed that still about 60 similar plan approvals are pending with BDO, Tiruporur, DVAC said.