Minister demanded bribe, says Dharmapuri child unit officer

The official, Raja Meenakshi, attached to the Social Defence Department in Dharmapuri district, lodged a complaint with the City Commissioner of Police, seeking police protection for her and criminal action against V Saroja and her husband. 

According to the complainant, she had been appointed as the child protection officer at Dharmapuri district by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and she had been performing well in the backward district. 

However, after the death of Jayalalithaa, Saroja started threatening Meenakshi saying that her posting could have easily earned the Minister Rs 10 lakh had it not been for Jayalalithaa. 

“I had paid Rs 10 lakh following their torture. However, now they are demanding Rs 30 lakh if I wanted to continue in my job. They also threatened to eliminate me saying that there were others, who were ready to pay Rs 30 lakh for the post,” Meenakshi noted in her two-page long complaint. 

The complainant said that the Minister and her husband demanded Rs 30 lakh when she was asked to meet them for a transfer to Chennai on health grounds. “I had undergone an intestinal surgery. When I requested a transfer to Chennai on health grounds, I was asked to meet the Minister. On May 7, I went to the Minister’s house where I was threatened and asked to pay up,” the complainant said.