Tangedco AEE among three persons arrested in Arakkonam on bribery charges

A 57-year-old Assistant Executive Engineer (AEE) and two subordinates were arrested at Tangedco office in Winterpet near Arakkonam town in Ranipet by sleuths of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) on Thursday for demanding and taking a bribe of ₹25,000 for conversion of domestic consumer connection into commercial.

DVAC sources identified them as S. Punitha, 57, AEE, Tangedco, Bilkis Begam, 59, forewoman (Tangedco) and C. Monika, 33, commercial inspector (Tangedco). Initial inquiry revealed that the complainant, K. Saravanan, 44, a farmer, has been living with his family in Ammanoor village near the town for many years. Recently, he rebuilt his house to run a small hotel in front of it to supplement his income from farming.

Accordingly, Saravanan decided to convert the existing domestic service connection into commercial connection to enable him to start the hotel. Subsequently, he applied for a change in service connection online a few weeks ago. As there was no progress, Saravanan visited Tangedco office in Arakkonam town to find out the status of his application recently. He met forewoman Begam at the office and told her that he has been waiting for the conversion of the service connection to start his new hotel.
 
Along with Begam and commercial inspector Monika, Punita demanded a sum of ₹ 1 lakh to convert the domestic service connection for commercial use. Saravanan managed to pay ₹50,000 and requested them to process his application. However, the trio asked him to pay balance money to get his job done. 

Unwilling to pay the bribe, Saravanan lodged a complaint with the DVAC. A seven-member team led by S. Ganesan, Deputy SP (Arakkonam), laid a trap and caught the trio red-handed. A case has been registered against them. Later, the trio were arrested and lodged at Central Prison in Vellore. A probe is underway.