Rs 58 lakh cash seized during surprise DVAC raids at civic offices

CHENNAI: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Friday conducted simultaneous surprise inspections at 41 offices of municipal corporations, municipalities and town panchayats across Tamil Nadu and seized unaccounted cash amounting to Rs 57.98 lakh.

Investigators also detected Google Pay (GPay) transactions worth Rs 26.70 lakh (of the total Rs 56 lakh) suspected to be linked to illegal gratification.

The raids targeted offices under the Municipal Administration, Town Panchayats and Public Health departments following complaints of bribery in the delivery of civic services.

Among the locations where cash was recovered were the Greater Chennai Corporation zonal offices at Kodambakkam, Teynampet, Anna Nagar and Royapuram, besides civic offices in Kancheepuram, Tambaram, Tiruvannamalai, Ramanathapuram, Thoothukudi, Nagapattinam and several other districts.

The highest cash recovery was Rs 7.49 lakh from the Thoothukudi Corporation office. At the Karaikudi Corporation office, GPay transactions worth over Rs 8 lakh were detected, while Rs 5.79 lakh in GPay transactions were detected at the Tirupattur Municipality office.

The DVAC said the inspections resulted in the seizure of Rs 31.27 lakh in physical cash that could not be satisfactorily accounted for, in addition to identifying digital transactions through GPay amounting to Rs 26.70 lakh, taking the total value of suspected unaccounted money to Rs 57.98 lakh.

The agency said further investigation is under way to ascertain the source of the money and whether it was collected as bribes from members of the public seeking civic services.