CHENNAI: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) arrested nine persons in seven trap cases across Tamil Nadu between June 13 and June 19, with officials allegedly caught while accepting bribes ranging from Rs 4,000 to Rs 90,000.
Those arrested included VAOs Gnanasekar (Tiruppur), Kalaichelvi (Villupuram) and Senthilkumar (Thoothukudi), surveyor Selvaraj (Pudukottai), bill clerk Suman Raj (Dindigul), Tangedco Assistant Executive Engineer Kathirvel (Coimbatore) and Commercial Inspector Jamaludeen (Chennai). Two private intermediaries, Subbaiah and Vinoth, were also arrested. The highest bribe amount of Rs 90,000 was allegedly accepted by Kathirvel for recommending a 60 KW solar panel net meter connection in Coimbatore.
Meanwhile, courts in three corruption cases delivered convictions during the week. On June 18, the Karur principal district and sessions court sentenced former Adi Dravidar and Tribal Welfare officer Jawahar and two cooperative society functionaries, Ganesan and Thangavel, to four years’ imprisonment for tampering with government records.
On Friday, a special court in Tirunelveli sentenced a former Kalakad town panchayat chairman and executive officer to three years’ rigorous imprisonment in a revenue-loss case. On the same day, the Tiruvarur court sentenced junior engineer Ramalingam to four years’ imprisonment for bribery.
On Thursday, a DVAC inspector, Vimala, was placed under suspension after an internal inquiry found that she allegedly attempted to extort money.