TIRUCHY: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Tuesday registered a case against former transport minister KN Nehru and 17 officials as per the direction of Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court for illegally splurging `32.88 lakh for his guests during 2006-11 while he was serving as a minister.
Sources said, N Govindaraj, a former TNSTC employee from Kumbakonam, lodged a complaint on April 11, 2014, after sourcing the `32.88 lakh figure from the transport department through an RTI query. However, the DVAC failed to register a case against Nehru which prompted Govindaraj to approach the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court to direct the DVAC to file a case against the former minister.
In his petition, Govindaraj had stated that officials had spent the amount illegally to meet the transport expenses, food and stay of the guests of Nehru through his oral instructions. On May 5, justice S Nagamuthu, who heard the case, directed the DVAC to file a case against Nehru and the 17 officials of the transport department. “There can be no justification to refuse to register a case when there are prima facie materials that public servants and persons in the helm of affairs have misappropriated public funds for their own use and indulging in corruption,” the judge said.
On Tuesday, based on the court order, the DVAC DSP Ulaganathan registered case against 18 persons including KN Nehru, the then Managing Directors, General managers and Divisional Managers of TNSTC. Several attempts by Express to contact the DSP for more clarifications yielded no results.
