Chennai: A team of officers from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) on Monday arrested a Block Development Officer (BDO) in Kancheepuram district on graft charges after he was caught red-handed accepting a bribe of Rs 1.25 lakh.
DVAC sources said that Madurandhagam BDO Selvin had demanded a bribe of Rs 1.25 lakh from a person to facilitate registration of a land near Arayapakkam. The victim, Srinivasan of Perambur, in Chennai, filed a complaint with the DVAC after which a trap was laid to catch the official red-handed.
As agreed before, Srinivasan set up a meeting with the Madurandhagam BDO and handed over the chemical-laced currency notes to him when a DVAC team, which was waiting, caught them. Another staff member in the BDO office, Mohan was also arrested along with Selvin, DVAC sources said. The cash was recovered from them. The duo was produced before a magistrate and remanded to judicial custody. This is the second instance of DVAC action against a government official in Kancheepuram district in less than a month.
On November 23, DVAC officers conducted raids at the office and properties of the Kancheepuram Municipality commissioner, A Sardar. Two teams conducted the raids simultaneously- one at his official residence in Kancheepuram and his family home at Thoraipakkam in Chennai.
The raids were a result of the complaints against the commissioner during his previous stint- when he served as the municipal commissioner in Nilgiris district.
