THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has unearthed massive irregularities plaguing the sub-registrar offices in the state during a statewide raid covering 72 offices.
The vigilance, in a statement, said the sleuths recovered Rs 1.46 lakh as cash from 13 agents, who had arrived at various offices to pay bribes to the officials.
Additionally, Rs 37,850 was seized from the record rooms of seven sub-registrar offices, and an unaccounted amount of Rs 15,190 was recovered from four officials.
Furthermore, verification of UPI applications revealed that 19 officials across various sub-registrar offices had unlawfully received a total of Rs 9.67 lakh from various document writers.
The drive, code-named ‘Operation Secure Land’, was launched on Thursday evening following credible information that corruption was rampant at sub-registrar offices.
The sleuths seized unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 8,500 from an official of Kazhakkoottam office. An amount of Rs 11,500 was seized from an agent at the Konni office. A total of Rs 24,300, which was unaccounted for, was found concealed between registers kept in the record room of the office. Similarly, Rs 6,500 found in the Pathanamthitta office record room was also seized. An official attached to the Chengannur office was found to have received Rs 2,000 from a document writer via UPI.
At the Devikulam office in Idukki district, an officer was found to have received Rs 91,500 from a document writer, while Rs 700, which was unaccounted for, was detected inside the record room of the Peermade office. At the Kochi office, two officials were found to have received Rs 18,800 from document writers, while two other officials attached to the Tripunithura office received Rs 30,610 as a bribe from document writers via UPI.
An amount of Rs 4,600, which was meant to be delivered to officers, was seized from an agent at the Chalakudy office. From the Kodungallur office, an agent was nabbed after being found in possession of Rs 6,400, while an official had unaccounted cash to the tune of Rs 1,590.
An agent carrying Rs 21,600 was nabbed from the Malappuram office, while an officer was found to have received Rs 1.06 lakh from two document writers via UPI. From Manjeri, an agent was caught while carrying Rs 1,100 and Rs 4,700 was seized from the record room of the Nilambur office.
Here, three employees received Rs 1.03 lakh from document writers via UPI as a bribe. From the Perinthalmanna office, an agent was caught with Rs 26,000. Three agents, who had Rs 7,860 in their possession, were nabbed from the Ponnani office. From the Kuttipuram office, an agent was held with Rs 5,950. An officer was found carrying Rs 4,500, while another was found to have received Rs 1,000 as a bribe via the online payment platforms.
From the Feroke office, an agent was caught with Rs 20,000, while an officer was found to have received Rs 59,225 via UPI from a document writer. In the Koyilandy office, an officer was found to have received a kickback of Rs 4,750, while an agent was caught from the Kozhikode office when he arrived at the office to distribute Rs 15,130 to the officials.
In the Kuttiady office, an agent was held with Rs 5,600, while an officer was found to have received Rs 5,600 as a bribe from a document writer via UPI. It was detected that an officer from the Kalpetta office received Rs 1,250 from a document writer via UPI. In Mananthavady, an agent was held for carrying Rs 11,315, while an officer was found to have received a bribe of Rs 1,410. At the Sultan Bathery office, an employee was found to have received Rs 3.37 lakh as a bribe from document writers.
In Badiyadka office in Kasaragod, an officer was found to have received Rs 1.89 lakh from document writers as bribe.