KARAIKAL: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday seized Rs 75.5 lakh in unaccounted cash and arrested two senior engineers of the Puducherry Public Works Department (PWD) and a construction contractor for alleged corruption in awarding government contracts.
The sleuths had detained several PWD officials, including the suspects, while the latter were meeting with contractors at a private hotel in Karaikal on Saturday, and interrogated them for over 20 hours till Sunday afternoon.
The arrested persons have been identified as chief engineer M Dhinadayalan (58), executive engineer (buildings and roads) R Chidambara-nathan (58) and Ilamurugu, a contractor from Mannargudi in Tiruvarur district.
According to sources, Dhinadayalan was on the CBI’s radar over allegations of graft in the awarding of PWD contracts in exchange for financial gains. On Saturday, he visited Karaikal ostensibly to inspect the progress of ongoing civic body works. Later, he went to a private hotel near Karaikal Beach Road, where, along with several PWD officials, he is learnt to have met a few contractors.
Around 2 pm on Saturday, a team of CBI officials entered the hotel and detained the officials. While their interrogation was underway, more CBI teams searched the offices and houses of the chief engineer in Puducherry and of the other officials in Karaikal.
Following the investigation, the CBI arrested the trio on Sunday afternoon.
Executive engineer caught while accepting bribe
According to a statement released to reporters, the CBI said it seized Rs 2 lakh cash from Chidambaranathan at the hotel and found Rs 50,000 in the contractor’s vehicle. During the searches held at the residential properties, the teams seized Rs 65 lakh cash from Dhinadayalan’s house and Rs 8 lakh from the house of Chidambaranathan. The officials also seized several incriminating documents during the searches, the statement said.
According to the statement, Chidambaranathan had earlier awarded a road contract worth Rs 7.44 crore to the accused private party with a demand of nearly 1% commission (approximately Rs 6 lakh) for the chief engineer to obtain clearances without delay. The CBI said Chidambaranathan was caught red-handed when he accepted a partial sum of Rs 2 lakh as a bribe from the contractor at the hotel.
The other detained officials were released after interrogation. The CBI team produced the three suspects before a judicial magistrate in Karaikal and remanded them to judicial custody.
A medical checkup was conducted at Karaikal General Hospital after the three complained of health concerns. Further investigation is under way.