Plea alleges Rs 30 cr scam in Madurai prison

According to senior counsel P Pugalendhi, he came to know about the scam through the documents obtained under the RTI Act. 

While supplying stationery to district courts and other government offices, the SP of Madurai prison prepared bills for large quantities even though the supply was of very little quantity, he alleged.

In one instance, the Madurai district court received 5,000 small envelopes, 5,000 medium size envelopes, and 250 file pads from the prison on July 7, 2019. 

“However, in the prison records, it was stated that 50,000 envelopes, 1,00,000 medium size envelopes, and 1.50 lakhs big size envelopes were sent to Madurai district court. The same was the case in sending stationery to the Kadaladi magistrate court, Ramanathapuram; district munsif court, Melur, Madurai; and district court, Sivaganga,” he added.

“By getting those bills passed by the concerned drawing officers, the SP, Madurai central prison, was instrumental in misappropriating public money to the tune of more than Rs 30 crores between June 1, 2019, and June 30, 2021,” he said. 

Pugalendhi added an audit for the period from June 1 to June 30, 2019, revealing that the central prison had claimed Rs 14 crore towards raw materials for making envelopes and gauze bandages, and Rs 16 crore towards the salary of the prisoners involved in the work.

Though he had brought the issue to the notice of the Home Department, DGP, and IG of Prisons, they did not respond to the complaint, he said, seeking for a direction to hand over the case to the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.