Hidden hoard in lockers of RTO caught taking bribe
2.5Kg Gold, 10.5Kg Silver Recovered A Few Days Ago
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:28.09.2018
When sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) caught Babu, a regional transport officer (RTO) in Kallakurichi of Villupuram, allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 early this month, little did they realise that would unearth much more.
Investigation into the official’s assets by DVAC has found nearly 13kg of gold and 32kg of silver from the officers bank lockers, apart from several property documents.
DVAC sources say when Babu’s residence was searched in the second week of September, they seized ₹30 lakh, around 1kg of gold and 11kg of silver. They also seized keys to six lockers.
These keys opened lockers held by Babu in several banks like SBI, HDFC, Andhra Bank and Catholic Union Bank (CUB), the sources said. In some cases, he had multiple lockers with the same bank, a source added.
When sleuths went checking recently, they found gold in the lockers.
In one locker, there was 10kg of silver. A few days ago, 2.5kg of gold and 10.25kg of silver were recovered from one of the lockers, the source said.
Apart from this, the lockers also had certificates of authenticity for diamond jewels, DVAC sources said.
In all, more than 60 property documents and 40 other policy documents have been recovered from the bank lockers, officers of the investigating agency said.
“This indicates that basically this RTO officer working in one corner of the state was a multi-millionaire,” said a source privy to the investigations. The recovery has completely taken the sleuths by surprise.
Incidentally, Babu was arrested after a complaint lodged by a man named B Muthukumar, who alleged that the official had demanded a bribe of ₹25,000 for issuing a fitness certificate, on September 10.
Along with Babu, middleman Senthil Kumar has reportedly been arrested by the DVAC which is keeping a close watch on transport department officials as they have come across modus operandi of several scams and methods by which black money is converted into gold, silver or invested in property.
The agency busted a scam in Madurai involving training schools recently.
2.5Kg Gold, 10.5Kg Silver Recovered A Few Days Ago
Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com
Chennai:28.09.2018
When sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) caught Babu, a regional transport officer (RTO) in Kallakurichi of Villupuram, allegedly accepting a bribe of ₹25,000 early this month, little did they realise that would unearth much more.
Investigation into the official’s assets by DVAC has found nearly 13kg of gold and 32kg of silver from the officers bank lockers, apart from several property documents.
DVAC sources say when Babu’s residence was searched in the second week of September, they seized ₹30 lakh, around 1kg of gold and 11kg of silver. They also seized keys to six lockers.
These keys opened lockers held by Babu in several banks like SBI, HDFC, Andhra Bank and Catholic Union Bank (CUB), the sources said. In some cases, he had multiple lockers with the same bank, a source added.
When sleuths went checking recently, they found gold in the lockers.
In one locker, there was 10kg of silver. A few days ago, 2.5kg of gold and 10.25kg of silver were recovered from one of the lockers, the source said.
Apart from this, the lockers also had certificates of authenticity for diamond jewels, DVAC sources said.
In all, more than 60 property documents and 40 other policy documents have been recovered from the bank lockers, officers of the investigating agency said.
“This indicates that basically this RTO officer working in one corner of the state was a multi-millionaire,” said a source privy to the investigations. The recovery has completely taken the sleuths by surprise.
Incidentally, Babu was arrested after a complaint lodged by a man named B Muthukumar, who alleged that the official had demanded a bribe of ₹25,000 for issuing a fitness certificate, on September 10.
Along with Babu, middleman Senthil Kumar has reportedly been arrested by the DVAC which is keeping a close watch on transport department officials as they have come across modus operandi of several scams and methods by which black money is converted into gold, silver or invested in property.
The agency busted a scam in Madurai involving training schools recently.
No comments:
Post a Comment