Panchayat secy arrested for taking bribe from MGNREGS beneficiaries

Namakkal: Sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Thursday arrested a panchayat secretary for taking a bribe of Rs 1,000 to allocate employment for workers under the MGNREGS scheme.V Santhosam, 40, of Kutladampatty near Vennandur, lodged a complaint with DVAC stating that T Thangadurai, 50, panchayat secretary from Narasingapuram near Attur in Salem district, promised to provide work to villagers twice a month under the scheme. He demanded Rs 1,000 each from the beneficiaries for job allocation.Santhosam informed DVAC about Thangadurai. DVAC sleuths laid a trap and arrested Thangadurai while he was accepting a bribe from Santhosam.Subsequently, Thangadurai was presented before the judicial magistrate of the Namakkal district court and remanded in Salem Central Prison under judicial custody the same night.In a separate incident, a village administrative officer (VAO) was arrested for accepting a bribe of Rs 4,000 from a farmer on Thursday evening. The VAO, identified as K Matheswaran, 53, hails from Denkanikottai in Krishnagiri district.P Venkatesan, 38, a farmer from Chandanapally, sought the VAO's assistance to amend his name on the patta and chitta. "The VAO demanded Rs 4,000 as a bribe to facilitate the name change," a DVAC official said. Venkatesan reported the matter to the DVAC, who laid a trap and arrested Matheswaran.