During a surprise check, sleuths from the Vellore unit of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) seized ₹1.94 lakh in unaccounted cash from the Sub-Registrar office at Velapadi in Vellore on Thursday. Apart from cash, which was seized mostly from toilets and storerooms in the office, documents were also seized during the search.
Thursday’s surprise check comes less than a week after the DVAC's Vellore unit searched three places, including the Aavin office in Sathuvachari on the Bengaluru Highway (NH 48) in Vellore, in connection with a case relating to former Minister for Commercial Taxes and Registration K.C. Veeramani. Documents were also reportedly seized during that search.
Two teams, comprising four officials each, led by DVAC officials Vijayalakshmi and Vijay, conducted the surprise check between 4.30 p.m and 8.30 p.m on Thursday in the newly built Sub-Registrar office. The Sub-Registrar, Vanitha, who had recently taken charge, was present. However, the DVAC officials said that no cash was seized from her cabin. “Obviously, the check was based on a strong tip-off. We seized cash from this Sub-Registrar office after it was shifted from the Vellore Fort to the present location a few years ago. The office was always on our radar,” said a DVAC official.
Likewise, the DVAC officials also seized ₹2 lakh unaccounted cash from the office of the Assistant Director (AD), the Town Planning section in the Tiruvannamalai Municipality during a surprise check on Thursday. The DVAC officials said that the Sub-Registrar office in Vellore was not the only one where such unaccounted cash had been seized. Cash was seized at Sub-Registrar offices in Sholinghur (Ranipet district), Arakkonam and Pallikonda (Vellore district) in the past few years. At present, the Vellore district has Sub-Registrar offices at Vellore town, Kaniyambadi, Pallikonda bordering Andhra Pradesh, Katpadi and Gudiyatham.
On September 16, the DVAC conducted searches at 35 places, including at properties belonging to former Minister K.C. Veeramani, in Chennai, Bengaluru, Ranipet, Vellore, Tiruvannamalai, Krishnagiri and his home town, Tirupattur, based on a case registered against him under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
