THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau on Tuesday seized unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 1.5 lakh during raids carried out at 76 sub-registrar offices in the state. From Mattancherry sub-registrar’s office, a bottle of foreign-made liquor was also seized.
During the inspection at the Edappally office, banned currency notes in the denomination of Rs 1,000 and two banned Rs 500 notes were seized from the record room. The raids were carried out after the agency received credible information that several corrupt officials at the sub-registrar offices were taking kickbacks from the document writers for slashing the stamp duty of properties by showing reduced rates.
During the raid at the Vengara office in Malappuram district, Rs 30,000 was recovered from an agent, who came to the office by closing time. In Chathamangalam office in Kozhikode, Rs 21,000 was seized from an agent, while in the Kasaragod office, Rs 11,300 was recovered from an agent.
An amount of Rs 23,500 was seized from the Feroke sub-registrar in Kozhikode, while Rs 5,060 and Rs 1,450 were seized from the Chathamangalam sub-registrar and an attender, respectively. From the Piravom sub-registrar office in Ernakulam, Rs 1,640 was recovered, while Rs 2,420 was found discarded on the floor of the Ranni sub-registrar office.
From the Alappuzha office, Rs 1,000 thrown out by the sub-registrar was recovered, while Rs 4,000 was recovered from his cabin. An amount of Rs 3,210 was seized from underneath the tablecloth of the clerk of the Melattur sub-registrar office in Malappuram, Rs 2,765 was recovered from underneath the tablecloth of the Edappally sub-registrar office. Similarly, Rs 1,500 and Rs 1,300 were recovered from Vengara and Ranni, respectively.