Directorate of Vigilance and Anti Corruption (DVAC) officials on Wednesday carried out searches on premises linked to an employee of the Rural Development Department, his wife and two brothers, said to be government contractors, in Pudukkotai.
Split into different groups, DVAC teams from Tiruchi, Pudukkotai and Sivaganga began searching the houses of V. Muruganandam, 47, an assistant with the Rural Development Department, his wife M. Gandhimathi, 37, president, Mullankurichi panchayat.
The houses of his brothers Ravichandran and Palanivel were also brought under DVAC radar. A few commercial complexes, reportedly owned by Muruganandam, were also searched.
The simultaneous raids at six places in the district began around 6 a.m., and continued beyond 6 p.m. It is alleged that the contractor brothers executed many projects during the previous AIADMK regime. Based on the inputs collected from various sources, the DVAC has registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1998, against Muruganandam and Gandhimathi.
In the FIR, the DVAC said Muruganandam and Gandhimathi had amassed wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income between January 2017 and June 2020. They had allegedly amassed ₹15.73 crore worth of assets, disproportionate to their known sources of income. These included house sites and flats purchased in his Gandhimathi’s name in Charles Nagar, Thirukokarnam, Periyar Nagar, Santhanapuram and Aranmanai Nagar, and a commercial complex, on Sathyamurthy Road, totally worth ₹12.83 crore. Muruganandam also purchased 12.9 hectares of agricultural land in various places, at an estimated ₹62 lakh, and a Benz car at a cost of ₹70.43 lakh.
The FIR said Muruganandam had engaged in criminal misconduct by intentionally enriching himself, illicitly, in four years, from 1 January, 2017. Gandhimathi also abetted him to acquire assets in her name.
Muruganandam began his career as a part-time clerk at the Veppankudi village panchayat in 1996, and was made a junior assistant in 2013. He was promoted as an assistant in the Rural Development Department in 2015.
