DVAC seizes ₹76,900 unaccounted cash from Sub-Registrar Office

DVAC seizes unaccounted cash from Sub-Registrar Office in Vettavalam village near Tiruvannamalai town, investigation ongoing.

Sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) seized ₹76,900 unaccounted cash from the Sub-Registrar Office (SRO) - II at Vettavalam village near Tiruvannamalai town on Tuesday.

DVAC sources said a team of vigilance officials, led by S. Velmurugan, Deputy SP, DVAC (Tiruvannamalai), conducted the raid based on a tip-off about officials receiving bribes from brokers and document writers for the registration of documents.

Moreover, residents have complained of irregularities, including extra charges and commission for registrations, registration of unregulated plots into regulated land pattas, and registration of property below existing market rates at the office. On an average, the office registers at least 50 housing and commercial plots every day, DVAC sources said.

The searches began at 9.30 p.m. on Monday and continued past midnight. The team seized unaccounted cash from the cabin of sub-registrar S. Kumaraguru. As most of the complaints received by the DVAC pertained to online modes of payments, the DVAC also seized the mobile phones of the sub-registrar and other senior staff members for verification of cash transactions.

A detailed investigation is under way.

This is the third such search over the last one month. Earlier, the DVAC officials had seized ₹2.14 lakh unaccounted cash from the Sub-Registrar Office at Katpadi and ₹1.79 lakh from the offices at Arakkonam and Vaniyambadi towns in Vellore.