CHENNAI: DVAC sleuths seized an amount of Rs 22.5 lakh and 12 sovereigns of gold during a raid conducted at the panchayat union office in St Thomas Mount near Chitlapakkam on Friday afternoon.
The raid which extended till the early hours of Saturday resulted in the seizure of unaccounted cash, gold jewels and Deepavali sweets. Sources said the union officers failed to produce proper documents of the source of money.
Sources said, an 18-men team headed by DSP Kumaragurubarar (DVAC) began searches at the St Thomas Mount panchayat union office at around 3 pm on Friday.
DVAC sources said they received an alert that the panchayat union commissioner M. Baskar and Block Development officer A. Baskar, were receiving bribes for the festival season from secretaries of 13 villages, falling under St. Thomas Mount panchayat union limits.
“To confirm this, we conducted a raid. When we entered the premises, the office was filled with village secretaries and contractors who were carrying out various civil works.”
Under the guise of commoners, DVAC sleuths laid a trap to nab the union commissioner, village secretaries and other officers. Sleuths said they were waiting for the village secretaries to hand over the cash and gifts to M. Baskar and A. Baskar. When they reportedly accepted the bribe, the officials pounced on them.
On seeing the DVAC sleuths, the secretaries and the panchayat union officials attempted to flee. But, the DVAC personnel managed to nab 11 officials including the BDO.
A team of officials grilled the panchayat union officials, while another team searched the premises.
On searching a luxury car parked inside the premises, officials seized sweet boxes filled with Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denominations. Around 12 sovereigns gold jewels were recovered from the boot of the car, and a spare tyre.
A total of Rs 22.5 lakh unaccounted money, 12 sovereigns gold and firecrackers were seized in the operation. A case has been filed against the 11 officers. Investigations are underway.
