VAO jumps int o pond with bribe money of ₹3,500, held

VAO jumps int o pond with bribe money of ₹3,500, held 

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 16.03.2025

 Coimbatore : A village administrative officer jumped into a pond, with DVAC sleuths hot on his heels, with a bribe money of ₹3,500 on Friday night. The sleuths jumped in too and arrested him. He has been identified as M Vetrivel, 32, of Theni district, the VAO of Mathvarayapuram village in Coimbatore district. According to a DVAC source, an elderly woman named Marathal, a cancer patient, had applied for a legal heir certificate after the demise of her husband. “The VAO demanded ₹5,000 from her for arranging the certificate. The woman had paid ₹1,000 to the VAO last month. When the VAO demanded that the woman pay the remaining ₹4,000, she approached her sonin-law Krishnasamy, 62, of Mathvarayapuram. He came to us and we laid a trap by asking him to hand over chemical coated currency notes to the VAO.” As instructed by DVAC, Krishnasamy contacted the VAO and asked him to wait near Perur tahsildar office around 8pm on Friday. “Vetrivel reached the spot around 8pm. Krishnasamy met him and gave him the chemical coated currency notes,” the source said DVAC officials, who were hiding nearby, caught the VAO redhanded. But, he managed to escape on his motorcycle. “Vetrivel fell on the road. Before the sleuths caught him, he jumped into Perur Periyakulam. Once in the pond, he threw the notes into the water,” the source said. The sleuths could not trace the currency notes.