The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) has registered two separate cases against 10 individuals, including two in-charge sub-registrars, following surprise raids at the Thondamuthur and Gandhipuram sub-registrar offices in Coimbatore. The operations led to the seizure of unaccounted cash totaling Rs 2.34 lakh and incriminating slips detailing bribe collections.
Raids at Thondamuthur Sub-Registrar Office
A DVAC team, led by Additional Superintendent of Police (ADSP) Rajesh, conducted a surprise raid at the Thondamuthur sub-registrar office on June 5. According to sources, sub-registrar (in-charge) M Ananthakumar was directly accepting bribes from the public and document writers for property registrations and issuing encumbrance certificates (EC). He deployed a private assistant, identified as S Mukundan, to collect bribe money on his behalf.
The sleuths searched Mukundan's room and seized Rs 38,420 in cash collected from various document writers and slips containing handwritten details of bribe amounts. Further searches on the premises led to additional cash seizures from K Rajendran, U Radhika, and T Amar Singh. A total of Rs 1.12 lakh was seized from the Thondamuthur office. The DVAC registered a case against all five individuals.
Raids at Gandhipuram Sub-Registrar Office
Simultaneously, another DVAC team led by inspector Arumugam raided the Gandhipuram sub-registrar office. DVAC sleuths seized around Rs 1.21 lakh in unaccounted cash from a private worker handling bookbinding, EC verification, and photocopying. Following this, the DVAC registered a case against sub-registrar (in-charge) G Selvakumar for abetting corruption. Office assistant M Sibin and document writers G Rajagopal, A Chandrasekhar, and A Arunkumar were also booked.
The raids underscore the DVAC's ongoing efforts to curb corruption in government offices. Further investigations are underway.
