77 lakhs seized from Deputy Collector’s house in Vellore

Police said that Ranjith Kumar (31), a farmer from Irumbuli village near Polur, Tiruvannamalai district, had registered 1.47 acres of land. However, during the procedure at the

sub-registrar’s office at Kannamangalam, it was found that he had used fewer stamp papers than was warranted by the transaction.

Kumar was then asked to approach the DC (stamps) at the Vellore Collector’s office. There, he met Dinakaran who told him that stamp paper worth Rs 1.50 lakh would have to be purchased for the transaction, but Kumar pleaded his inability to pay such a large sum of money.

Meanwhile, two days ago Dinakaran called up Kumar and demanded Rs 50,000 bribe for the transaction and asked him to wait with the cash at an ATM near the Collector’s office after 9 pm. In the meantime, Kumar had already informed the vigilance police who gave him chemically treated currency notes to hand over to Dinakaran.

Sticking to the appointment, Dinakaran arrived at the ATM in a car and asked Kumar to get in. They proceeded towards the new bus stand and then Dinakaran took the money. All this while, he was being tailed by the vigilance officials. After dropping off Kumar at the bus stand, the car turned back towards Chennai highway. He was stopped at Sathuvacahri by the officials and taken to the Collectorate from where they seized another Rs 1.94 lakh. Police interrogated him till morning, took him to his house at Thangal village from where they seized Rs 76.64 lakh in a metal trunk.

Both Dinakaran and his driver Ramesh Kumar were arrested. A case has been registered and investigation has begun. The seized amount was handed over to the Vellore treasury in the presence of armed police while searches were also conducted at Dinakaran’s house in Polur, Tiruvannamalai district.