DVAC searches at Pudukottai home of tainted govt official

DVAC searches at Pudukottai home of tainted govt official

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:13.01.2021

A month after seizing property in Chennai worth₹2 crore from a TN environment department official, Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) officials conducted searches at his residence in his native town in Pudukottai district over the past two days.

A senior DVAC official told TOI that “nothing incriminating” has been found so far during the searches of office superintendent S Pandian’s house in Thirumayam. However, sources said anti-corruption officials seized a few documents.

In December 2020, officials recovered ₹88,500 in unaccounted money from his office at Saidapet’s Panagal Maligai, where all senior environment department officials sit.

According to the DVAC, subsequent searches at Pandian’s Saligramam residence yielded ₹1.37 crore in cash and gold and diamond articles worth more than ₹1 crore. The agency also found 18 property documents worth several crores and fixed deposits. A disproportionate assets case was booked against Pandian, following which officials moved a special court for a warrant to search his Thirumayam house.

“The investigation will now focus on how he amassed this wealth and if he was a conduit for other officials,” a DVAC source said.

Sources said Pandian had held his post for many years and was influential as he put up all important files pertaining to grant of environmental clearances for all kinds of projects, including real estate and industrial ones. After the news broke, a group of activists, including former Madras HC judge Justice (retd) D Hariparanthaman, wrote to the DVAC congratulating it on its crackdown on Pandian and charged that he was responsible for disappearance of 15,000 acres of Ennore wetlands from the official coastal zone regulation maps.