Treasury officer arrested for taking bribe in Dharmapuri

Dharmapuri: Officials from the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-corruption (DVAC) arrested a sub-treasury officer for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a retired teacher in exchange for facilitating her pension benefits in Palacode in Dharmapuri district on Tuesday.

P Kavitha, 50, of Alrajigounder Street in Palacode, was a teacher at Sikkardhanaalli Government Middle School. After taking voluntary retirement two years ago due to health issues, she has been seeking the government dues amounting to Rs 29.5 lakh.

Despite receiving approval from the education department, the Palacode sub-treasury office delayed the release of her funds.

M Ramachandran, 42, an additional sub-treasury officer at the same office, allegedly requested Rs 10,000 to expedite the payment.

Refusing to comply, Kavitha lodged a complaint with DVAC DSP Nagarajan on Monday. Subsequently, DVAC officials provided her with chemically marked currency to use as bribe money. When Kavitha handed over the cash to Ramachandran, Nagaraj and Inspector Perumal, who were monitoring the situation, arrested him on the spot.