VELLORE: The sleuths of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC), attached to Tamil Nadu Police have nabbed a deputy collector in Vellore and seized a whopping sum of Rs.77.94 lakhs from his house in the city.
S Dinakaran, serving as Special Deputy Collector, Stamps, in Vellore collectorate, was ‘trapped’ by a team of DVAC led by Vellore DSP (in-charge) N Devanathan on Friday evening when he took a bribe of Rs 50,000 from M Ranjithkumar, of Irumbuli village, Polur, Tiruvannamalai, for clearing valuation of the stamp fee for registration a land, sources said.
The police team had to chase his car for a while on the busy Chennai-Bengaluru National Highway as he was speeding away towards Chennai as soon as taking the bribe money. The sources informed that cash to the tune of Rs 1.94 lakh kept in a bag in the car was seized.
Dinakaran’s personal driver Rameshkumar (45), of Polur, was also arrested. The DVAC team included Inspectors S Vijay, M Rajinikath, S Vijayalakshmi and S Mythili.
Later, on Saturday, the anti-corruption sleuths searched the Special Deputy Collector’s house located at Thangal in Brahmapuram in Katpadi. The search yielded Rs 76 lakh. "Subsequent to the trap of the Special Deputy Collector, we searched his house in Thangal. We detected Rs 76 lakh in liquid cash and seized it from his house," Inspector Vijay told Express.
The entire cash was stated to be bribe money accumulated by Dinakaran over the years serving in government departments in various capacities.
He fell into the trap laid by the DVAC after a complaint received from Ranjithkumar who alleged that the officer was demanding Rs 50,000 for clearing a valuation of a land registered in Polur Taluk in Tiruvannamalai, after the matter was referred to him for verification by the Sub-Registrar of Polur, the sources stated.
He asked the complainant to come up with the bribe money of Rs 50,000 to the ATM centre outside Vellore collectorate, where from he picked up the man in his personal car.
After taking the cash, he dropped Ranjithkumar at Green Circle and moved away, the sources stated, and added that he sped away towards Chennai when the DVAC men tried to catch him. However, they rounded him up near the Aavin at Sathuvachari after a brief hot chase.