MADURAI: The sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) in Madurai registered a case against 11 persons, including former Superintendent of Police of Madurai Prison, on charges of misappropriating Rs 1.63 crore under the pretext of purchasing raw materials for manufacturing stationery articles. The incident pertaining to the case took place between 2019 and 2021.
According to police, former SP (Madurai prison) M Urmila (currently SP Cuddalore prison), former jailer S Vasantha Kannan (currently Additional SP at Palayamkottai prison), then administrative officer M Thiagarajan and eight others were booked on Thursday. The case was registered after the DVAC conducted a preliminary inquiry into the allegations that the prison officials indulged in corrupt practices by purchasing raw materials for manufacturing large quantities of stationery articles by manipulating prison records.
It may be noted that as declared by the government, the prison department is a service department that supplies prison-made articles to state departments. In case of lack of demand, the manufactured articles can be sold to outside buyers. The required raw materials are procured from suppliers on a tender basis, and delivered to the prison as per requirements.
However, no details regarding the mode of delivery, quantum of articles and place of delivery, could be traced to confirm the authenticity of transactions which took place during 2019-2021. Though transactions above Rs 1 lakh should be made through electronic billing, the invoices were found to be manually written, indicating the forgery of bogus bills. Stationery articles, worth Rs 1.63 crore, were supplied to various government departments during the said period, police said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that funds were misappropriated for purchasing raw materials by making false entries in the billing records. Claiming that prima facie evidence was available, the officials registered the case. The other eight accused are identified as VM Jafarullakhan of Madurai, his sons VMJ Mohammed Ansari and VMJ Mohammed Ali; S Sreenivasan of Chennai, his wife S Shanthi; S Sankarasubbu of Tirunelveli, his wife S Dhanalakshmi; and M Venkateswari of Chennai.