VELLORE: 18 government employees, including three Block Development Officers (BDOs), were caught in a scam after allegedly swindling lakhs of rupees by awarding houses under Prime Minister Awas Yojana-Gramin (PMAY-G) scheme to ineligible persons in Alangayam panchayat union in Tirupattur district.
The sleuths of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) of Tamil Nadu police are probing the scam. They have recently filed an FIR after getting due permission from the competent authorities of the government to prosecute the officers. The irregularities were committed in 2017 and 2018 in eight panchayats- Nakkanamalai, Girisamudram, Valayampattu, Madhananchery, Chettiyappanur, Pallipattu, Jaffrabath, and Devasthanam.
“The officers accused misappropriated government funds in the eight panchayats and caused losses to the government approximately to the tune of Rs 35,31,517, which would otherwise have reached those in the Below Poverty Line (BPL) category, eligible beneficiaries, and those who were really in need,” the FIR stated. A team of officials led by DVAC Inspector Vijay held the preliminary investigations and filed the FIR while another team led by inspector Rajinikanth is currently carrying out the probe.
Of the 18 government employees accused of siphoning off the funds, N Rameshkumar (54), S Vasanthi (55), and A Vincent Rameshbabu (50) are BDOs and had served in Alangayam panchayat union, which became a part of Tirupattur after the trifurcation of Vellore.
V Arunprasad (41), T Rameshbabu (45), and G Srinivasan (57), all deputy BDOs, B Alagarasu (55), K Gnanaprasath (38), and K Thamaraiselvan (51), all overseers, V Karthikeyan (45), assistant engineer (AE), and R Vajjiravel (52), S Surendiran (43), MS Murali (33), D Rajendiran (48), B Ganapathi (49), K Boopalan (38), M Pandiyan (44), and M Siva (33), all panchayat secretaries, are also charged with misappropriating the funds.
All the eighteen have been booked under Sections 13 (2), r/w 13 (1) (b) r/w 12 of Prevention of Corruption (Amendment) Act, 2018, and Sections 120 (B), 409, 420, 467, 468, 471, 477-A of Indian Penal Code (IPC). “Since the probe is largely evidence-based (comprising documents), the investigators are currently perusing volumes of documents and in due course summon the individual officers for interrogations,” said an officer of DVAC. The preliminary investigations revealed that the officers had sanctioned the subsidy for ineligible persons and those financially well-off people, some of them had not even constructed the houses.
Loss to govt: Rs 35,31,517
The FIR stated, “The officers accused misappropriated government funds in the 8 panchayats and caused losses to the government approximately to the tune of Rs 35,31,517