TRICHY: The directorate of vigilance and anti-corruption (DVAC), Trichy detachment, has launched an investigation into the alleged misappropriation of funds designated for the Prime Minister Awas Yojana (PMAY) in Marudhur village, Lalgudi taluk in Trichy.
Inspector G Sakthivel filed a case on April 12 against 10 officials of the panchayat raj and rural development department.
They are former Lalgudi panchayat union overseer S Venkatesh Kumar, former technical assistant M Clinton, former Lalgudi panchayat union block development officer (BDO) (village panchayat) K Saravanakumar, former Lalgudi BDO (village panchayat) S Ravichandran, former Lalgudi deputy BDO (schemes) A Sivakumar, former Lalgudi deputy BDO (schemes) N Loganathan, former Lalgudi deputy BDO (zonal) P Balraj, former Lalgudi deputy BDO (zonal) A Kalidoss, Lalgudi junior engineer (JE) M Renganathan, former Lalgudi JE M P S Baranidharan, and private individual N Tamilselvan. They are accused of creating fake documents, using forged documents as genuine ones, and with malicious intent, allowing the swindling of 1.2 lakh from the exchequer.
According to the DVAC FIR, based on a complaint in Nov 2022 and Dec 2022 by K Udhayakumar of Jangamarajapuram in Anbil, Lalgudi, the accused officers conspired to permit Tamilselvan S Tamilselvan of Ambedkar Nagar, Maruthur, to swindle funds from the PMAY-G scheme for the year 2019-20, totalling 1.2 lakh, by using a fake thumb impression after the demise of his grandmother, Thangaponnu, on Oct 16, 2020. Udhayakumar alleged that similar methods were employed in other cases, with payments released to fake beneficiaries for approximately 60 to 70 houses purportedly constructed under PMAY between 2019 and 2022.Acting on the complaints, DVAC stated that the 10 govt servants and Tamilselvan appeared to have committed offences punishable under sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act 1988 (amended in 2018), as mentioned in the FIR. The case was transferred to DVAC, Trichy, after the Samayapuram police and the district crime branch (DCB) registered cases, and the petitioner moved the Madurai bench of the Madras high court seeking the transfer.
According to the FIR, a prima facie case has been established against the officers for offences including conspiracy, cheating, preparing forged documents, criminal misappropriation, and criminal misconduct and abetment during the period between 2019 and 2022 in the implementation of the PMAY scheme in Maruthur village, Lalgudi union.
Inspector Sakthivel also mentioned that the misappropriation of funds in Tamilselvan’s case was substantiated, and the funds were recovered by the department. “We will further investigate the allegations of misappropriation of PMAY funds in the construction of additional houses,” Sakthivel told TOI on Monday.
