MADURAI
Officials of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Madurai unit on Tuesday conducted searches at the residences of Regional Transport Officer (South), K. Kalyanakumar, and two Motor Vehicle Inspectors, J. Poornalatha and A.K. Murugan.
The searches are part of a case registered under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, against 17 persons, including the trio, in June 2018.
The searches by different teams of DVAC sleuths that began around 8.30 a.m. continued till late evening. A source said some documents had been seized from the houses of the officials located in different parts of the city.
One G. Senthilkannan had complained that Kalyanakumar, who was then RTO (North), and other officials and staff members colluded with representatives of private driving schools and issued badge certificates to applicants on production of fake school certificates in 2015 and 2016 for pecuniary benefits.
While only the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) had the authority to issue the certificates, the principal of three schools (run under the NIOS) prepared fake certificates and sold them to the applicants, the DVAC charged.
Preliminary enquiry conducted by the DVAC officials into the complaint revealed that 287 badges were issued in 2015 and 425 badges in 2016 without verifying the genuineness of transfer certificates and mark sheets.
