CHENNAI: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption has booked the former joint director and director (in-charge) of Drugs Control department, PU Karthigeyan, and his wife Hemalatha in a disproportionate assets case in Chennai in February this year.
Karthigeyan was arrested in July last year by DVAC for allegedly demanding and accepting `25,000 bribe from a Vellore-based cosmetics businessman to clear a government licence application.
According to DVAC, Karthigeyan, who entered the Drugs Control Department as a drug inspector in 1999, had been serving as joint director of Drugs Control and director in-charge at the DMS campus on Anna Salai since 2023.
He came under the scanner for the period between January 1, 2020 and July 31, 2025. DVAC has alleged the couple’s bank balance, cash holdings, gold and silver articles, vehicle purchases, insurance policies and equity investments together translated into movable assets valued at about `1.27 crore at the end of the check period, against an assessed income of `82 lakh and expenditure of about `65.65 lakh.
The value of disproportionate assets has been pegged at roughly `99.86 lakh, or 121.7% over their known income, following discreet enquiries and house and office searches, including a trap laid on July 21, 2025. The case was booked on February 23, 2026 and the FIR has been placed before the principal sessions judge, city civil court.