CHENNAI: Secretary of Tamil Nadu Teachers Recruitment Board (TRB) VS Rameswaramurugan has been booked by the officials of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) for allegedly amassing a wealth of `3.89 crore over and above his known sources of income. Rameswaramurugan’s wife and both their parents have also been booked in the case.
The check period was from March 2012 to April 2016. Rameswaramurugan (52), a native of Gobichettipalayam, held key posts in the education department during the AIADMK regime. A search was conducted at his residence and his father’s house in Erode district on Thursday.
A DVAC official said Rameswaramurugan served as the joint director of secondary school education for two months from April 1, 2012. After that, he was posted as the director of elementary school education, and on July 31, 2013, he was made the director of school education. After his tenure ended on December 10, 2014, he served as the director of the State Council of Education Research and Training until April 25, 2017.
The official added, “As of April 1, 2012, the start of the check period, Rameswaramurugan had properties worth `1.98 crore in his name and the names of his family members. However, subsequently, immovable properties were purchased in the name of Rameswaramurugan, his wife, parents, and parents-in-law in Somangalam village in Erode, Thiruthangal village in Sivakasi, Madhavaram village in Chennai, Nattarmangalam village in Cuddalore, Keela Thiruthangal village in Sivakasi, Nathanallur village in Kancheepuram, among other locations. At the end of the check period, on March 31, 2016, the family’s assets were worth Rs 6.52 crore.”
After the searches and investigations at the residences of Rameswaramurugan and his father in Erode district, the DVAC found out that the TRB secretary and his family members had amassed assets, both movable and immovable, worth Rs 3.89 crore between April 1, 2012, and March 31, 2016, which is 354.66% more than the family’s known sources of income.
The others named in the FIR are his wife A Akilandeeswari (42), his father V M Chinnapalanisamy (90), his mother C Mangaiyarkarasi (84), his father-in-law B Arivudainambi (68), and mother-in-law A Ananthi (62). All the five people have been booked under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.