Minister for Devaswoms, SC/ST, and Backward Classes Welfare K. Radhakrishnan revealed on Tuesday that he had received a death threat over his phone.
Speaking at the inauguration of e-office facilities at the Scheduled Castes Development Directorate, he said that attempts to stop wrongdoings invite such reactions, however threats will not dissuade the government from its actions.
The revelation comes at a time when the Scheduled Caste Development Department is carrying out audits into the fund disbursal under various schemes, following a case of corruption involving some officials at a sub-office of the Department of Scheduled Caste Development functioning out of the Thiruvananthapuram city Corporation office.
Senior clerk U.R. Rahul, field promoter Sangeetha, and others had allegedly diverted funds meant for beneficiaries for educational and other purposes into their own accounts.
The fraudulent activity came to light by chance in April this year when the parent of a possible beneficiary, who was marked as ineligible by the said official, found out later that the money was collected using the child’s records, but diverted into the field promoter’s account.
Lakhs of rupees, diverted from deserving beneficiaries, is estimated to have been diverted into multiple benami accounts. Mr. Rahul was arrested on Thursday. The Vigilance Court on Monday sent him to police custody.
