The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) seized ₹2 lakh from the Motor Vehicle Department (MVD) check-post at Walayar during a lightning raid conducted in the early hours of Monday.
The money was found to have been illegally collected from drivers and handed over to an agent to avoid detection.
A Vigilance team swooped down on the MVD check-post at 3 a.m. following a tip-off that the officers were collecting bribes to the tune of ₹3.5 lakh every day from drivers crossing the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border.
Vigilance Director Anil Kant, who ordered the raid, said a report would soon be submitted to the government about the bribes being collected at the check-post. Vigilance inspector Praveen Kumar, who led the raid, found an officer at the check-post handing over ₹1.5 lakh to an agent, Aravindakshan, who, on being questioned, confessed to his involvement.
The operation
A Vigilance officer in mufti later stood in a queue and found the MVD officer collecting cash from drivers.
The officer at the check-post soon handed over ₹50,000 also to Aravindakshan. The Vigilance team seized ₹2 lakh from him.
An examination of the check-post office found that MVD officers had shifted ₹36,530, which was to be paid to the government, out of the check-post.
