A revenue inspector working for the State-owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited was arrested by vigilance officials on Friday for allegedly demanding Rs 10,000 from a cable operator whose coverage was contiguous over two districts, at the Collectorate here on Friday.
The complainant T Malaikani, owner of Sri Ram Cables, enrolled with Arasu Cable TV at Tirunelveli and operated in the Mangudi Meenakshipuram area.
While Mangudi fell under Sankarankoil Taluk in Tirunelveli district, Meenakshipuram was under Rajapalayam Taluk at Virudhunagar district. Malaikani, who had 370 subscribers in the area, also provided connections to two adjacent villages in Virudhunagar- Therku Meenakshipuram and Chiristhurajapuram.
Malaikani alleged that on March 16, two senior officials of Arasu Cable-tahsildar Sandhanamariappan and revenue inspector Marimuthu (61) met him along with five subordinates and demanded that he separately register at the corporation’s Virudhunagar office for operating in places coming under their jurisdiction. Further, they reportedly cut 210 metres of optical cable wires used by his company.
Malaikani said that the two officials demanded a bribe of Rs 20,000 from him on March 23 for enrollment at Virudhunagar and resumption of services, to which he disagreed. On Thursday, the duo called him for another meeting. After Malaikani expressed his inability to pay the stated amount, the officials reduced it to Rs 10,000 and asked to him to pay up the next day.