CHENNAI:Officials of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) arrested a 37-year-old jail warden in Puzhal late on Tuesday for seeking bribe from a prisoner.Sources said jailer Jeyaraman demanded `40,000 from Mahin Abubucker, who was caught a year ago for smuggling brown sugar. Abubucker was to be transferred to the Poonamallee prison, but Jeyaraman allegedly told him that he could continue to stay in Puzhal if he paid up.
“When Abubucker informed his friend Karthik Leo at Katpadi in Vellore about this, the latter informed the DVAC,” said a police source. “What they did not expect was that only the jail warden was present to receive the money, and not the jailer,” the source said.Acting swiftly on the complaint, the DVAC laid a trap and caught jail warden A Pitchiah red-handed, when he received the chemical-laced money at his residence in the new prison warden quarters.
During interrogation, Pitchiah spilled the beans that Jeyaraman had asked Leo to meet him and give the money. When the DVAC officials went to meet the jailer, he was not present in his house. When contacted, he denied his involvement in the incident, but went into hiding soon after.
Pitchiah served at the Puzhal-1 (convict division) for more than two years and had been serving at Puzhal-2 (remand division) for the last one year.A senior police official told Express that a case was registered against him under Section 13(2) r/w 13(1)(d) of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 (criminal misconduct by a public servant).