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Tamil Nadu green offices new hub of bribe money
Since October, 127 raids by DVAC have led to seizure of over Rs 7.5 cr
By
migrator
migrator
Chennai
The Department of Environment and Pollution has now emerged as one of the most corrupt departments in TN with stashes of illegal money, the recent raids conducted by DVAC show.
Since October this year, 127 surprise raids were conducted by DVAC sleuths during which the agency recovered more than Rs 7.5 crore unaccounted cash. Of this, Rs.5.7 crore was recovered from ‘green’ officers in TN. Last week, the DVAC unearthed Rs 62 lakh cash from the house of a TN Pollution Control Board engineer in Oorapakam. Another house-search of a TNPCB official in Tiruvarur resulted in the seizure of Rs 3.14 lakh. Raids at the office and home of a TNPCB official in Vellore yielded nearly Rs 3.58 crore and 450 sovereigns of gold in October. Raids at the house of S Pandian, superintendent, Department of Environment, on Monday night, resulted in the seizure of Rs.1.37 crore cash and 3 kg gold. The vigilance team also seized 18 property documents worth Rs 7 crore, Rs 38 lakh in bank, fixed deposits details worth Rs 37 lakh, diamonds, silver articles. The search was carried out following recovery of Rs 88,000 from his Saidapet office.
A senior DVAC official noted that unlike SROs and RTOs - the usual hubs of corruption - green officials from Department of Environment and TNPCB deal with seniors from corporate companies who hand over the bribe without any resistance to get the required clearance certificate. The DVAC also arrested 33 government officers in the last two-and-a-half months.
Gold worth Rs 50L seized from Guduvanchery SRO
The DVAC seized more than Rs 13 lakh in cash and 114 sovereigns of gold jewellery from the house and office of the Guduvanchery sub-registrar on Monday. DVAC officials in Kancheepuram acted after a tip-off about bribes being given in the Guduvanchery sub-registrar office. The raid happened at 4.30 pm on Monday and by 8:30 pm, unaccounted cash worth Rs 75,500 was recovered from the sub-registrar Moorthy and contractors, who were waiting in the office. Later, the team recovered Rs 11.55 lakh cash and gold jewellery worth Rs 50 lakh from his house in Chengalpattu.
Vaniyambadi subregistrar’s office yields Rs 94,000 cash
An eight-member team from the Vellore unit of the vigilance and anticorruption wing seized Rs 94,000 cash from the sub registrar’s office in Vaniyambadi in night-long raids since Monday. They acted upon receiving numerous complaints of bribes. The team also searched the sub-registrar’s official car.
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