Contractors bearing gifts rush away from panchayat office after spotting DVAC team

Sources said these were contractors who had come to hand over Deepavali gifts to the officials, and added that even the employees who had come to office after the raid started returning without entering.

The DVAC had received a tip-off that the staff at the Panchayat Union office were receiving Deepavali gifts, including cash, ahead of the festival. Following that, a team of 10 officers from the anti-corruption agency, headed by DSP Kumaraguru, landed at the office on Friday for a surprise raid. As soon as they entered, the officers seized mobile phones from all the staff and switched them off immediately.

Within minutes of the raiding squad entering the office, scores of contractors who were milling the premise to hand over the gifts vanished from the spot, sources said. According to sources, the DVAC team seized nearly Rs 22.55 lakh unaccounted cash, and many gifts and sweet boxes that were found at the office. The officers conducted inquiries with Block Development Officer M Baskaran, who was promoted to this post only a few months ago. Earlier, he was serving in the same office as the manager for about two years. Meanwhile, as the searches went on inside, some of the staff who came in the afternoon returned without entering after spotting the police vehicles outside the office, sources added.

After conducting inquiries with the staff present at the office, the DVAC officers said they would submit a detailed report to their senior officers in this regard.