75 % of LED bulb purchase value swindled by corrupt officials in Theni

CHENNAI: A former assistant director of town panchayat and special officer for selection grade panchayat in Theni district along with 10 former executive officers along with two traders were booked by DVAC for allegedly swindling Rs 97 lakh while purchasing 1,300 LED bulbs during the year 2019-20.

The DVAC has listed N Vijayalakshmi, formerly Assistant Director of town Panchayat and Special Officer as the first accused in the case.

During the year 2019-2020, Vijayalakshmi and 10 former executive officers of various town panchayats procured, roughly 1,300 numbers of 36 watts LED bulbs at the rate of Rs 9,987 from one JR Electricals, K Puthupatti, Theni. But the market price of these LED Bulbs are ascertained ranging from Rs 1,200 to a maximum of Rs 2,500 per bulb, which means roughly an amount of Rs 7,487 per one LED bulb was swindled by the accused officers.

The total value of 1,300 LED bulbs which were purchased during the year amounts to Rs 1.29 crore and thus roughly an amount of Rs 97.33 lakh (75 per cent of the total purchase value) was taken as the undue advantage by the accused officers, with the help of last two accused who are contractors/ private individuals.

All 13 accused criminally conspired together, and in order to get undue advantage, intentionally dishonestly and fraudulently prepared forged bills, forged quotations and documents to benefit themselves, FIR registered by DVAC, Theni said.