THRISSUR: Vigilance officials have submitted their reports on the raids conducted on the premises of senior IAS officer and PWD secretary T O Sooraj in the Vigilance Court in Thrissur.
The officials submitted in the court as many as five reports as five squads were formed to conduct the raids. The two-page final report submitted contains the details of the searches, documents and other things seized from his custody. As many as 330 confiscated documents pertinent to the case including title deeds of properties, evidence of bank transactions and other material evidence collected during the raid were submitted in the court.
Vigilance Special SP T M Tomi told ‘Express’ that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) also filed a petition seeking the custody of the materials surrendered in the court for detailed investigation.
VACB had conducted raids on the premises of the senior bureaucrat after registering a case against him under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act. VACB had obtained a search warrant from the court of the Vigilance Enquiry Commissioner and Special Judge, Thrissur. The agency raided the premises of T O Sooraj including his houses, offices and properties of family members and relatives. The raids were conducted as part of its investigation into the allegation that the senior bureaucrat had amassed wealth beyond his known and legitimate sources of income.
The agency seized `1 lakh from his house, apart from documents showing his properties in several parts of Kerala and other materials shedding light on his illegal wealth. Earlier, a two-member judicial panel appointed by the State government found that T O Sooraj, then Kozhikode Collector, had failed to prevent the Marad massacre of May 2, 2003, in which nine persons were killed on Marad beach in Kozhikode. The panel recommended disciplinary action against him for not discharging his duties.