Sleuths of the Vellore unit of the Directorate of Vigilance Anti-Corruption (DVAC) wing on Tuesday arrested town planning inspector of Arakkonam Municipality, Kumaravel (46), for demanding and accepting a bribe of `3,000 from the son of a former municipality employee. Police also arrested Kumaravel’s car driver for acting as his conduit to receive the bribe.
T Venugopal (38), resident of Keezhkuppam village, lodged a complaint with the DVAC police against Kumaravel, stating that his father was one of the beneficiaries of the municipality’s Kavanur Village Extension Scheme, under which, he had been allocated a 1,800 sqft plot of land at Kavanur village. Thirumalai had been paying monthly instalments for the land.
After the land value had been revised, the municipal administration had directed the beneficiaries to pay an additional `1.92 lakh for the land. Venugopal paid the amount in June and approached Kumaravel requesting him to release the land documents and no objection certificate (NOC).
However, Kumaravel demanded `4,000 as bribe to release the land documents and NOC. After bargaining, he reduced the bribe amount to `3,500. Venugopal lodged a complaint with the DVAC and the DSP of the unit M Balasubramaniam laid a trap to nab the official. When Venugopal approached Kumaravel, he asked him to give the money to his driver Dilli (46). When Dilli handed over the cash to Kumaravel, the DVAC officials swooped down on Kumaravel and arrested and his driver.
Police registered a case against Kumaravel under Prevention of Corruption Act. A case was registered against Dilli under section 109 of IPC. The duo was remanded to the Vellore Prison after being produced before the Chief JM Court.