It was a carefully planned trap that was executed well and resulted in the arrest of the culprit literally ‘red-handed’ – the kind of operation that sleuths of the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) prefer. And Saturday’s operation netted a big fish: A. Ganapathy, 67, Vice-Chancellor, Bharathiyar University, Coimbatore.
T. Suresh, 49, an assistant professor on probation at the department of Chemistry, Bharathiyar University, was the bait the sleuths used to trap Mr. Ganapathy, who now faces the charge of demanding and accepting bribe. The Vice-Chancellor had demanded that he be paid ₹30 lakh in order that Mr. Suresh’s probation be recognised as completed. After Mr. Suresh found his V-C to be intractable on his demand, he decided to approach the DVAC. A trap was set and Mr. Suresh was to deliver the money on Saturday morning.
On Saturday morning, Mr. Suresh reported at the residence of Mr. Ganapathy in Maruthamalai, with notes painted with phenolphthalein, a compound that is invisible, but will show up red if dipped in water.
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Even as the DVAC officials were waiting outside, Mr. Suresh went inside Mr. Ganapathy’s residence to hand over the ‘marked’ notes amounting to ₹1 lakh and four post-dated cheques for ₹29 lakh. Just at that moment, the sleuths stormed into the house, and did a test to check Mr. Ganapathy’s hands for tell-tale signs of red, indicating he had indeed handled the currency. They also recovered the cheques that Mr. Suresh had handed over.