Chennai: Officials of Tamil Nadu Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption searched the office of Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Madurai after arresting an officer of the central agency for allegedly extorting Rs 20 lakh from a state government employee, sources said Saturday.
In an unprecedented action, the DVAC officials arrested Ankit Tiwari on charges of demanding and accepting bribes from a government doctor, who is an accused in a disproportionate assets case.
The sleuths seized Rs 20 lakh cash from his car, which he had allegedly received as a bribe.
The ED official was then taken to the V&AC office in Dindigul for interrogation.
They later conducted searches at the ED’s Madurai office and his residence late Friday and reportedly seized several documents and later sent the officer to a 14-day judicial custody.
This is the first time in Tamil Nadu that an officer of ED has been arrested.
Following a complaint received from Dr Suresh Babu of Dindigul, the V&AC had registered a case against the ED official Thursday.
As per the complainant, he worked as Deputy Superintendent in the Government Hospital in Dindigul. A case of accumulating assets disproportionate to his known sources of income was booked against him in 2018.
He alleged that Tiwari had contacted him a few months ago and demanded a bribe of Rs 3 crore to relieve him of the charges.
As the doctor refused to pay the huge money, Tiwari negotiated with him to part with Rs 51 lakh. The complainant said November 1 he had handed over Rs 20 lakh in cash to Tiwari.
Since the ED officer allegedly started harassing him for the remaining Rs 31 lakh, the doctor lodged a complaint with the V&AC.
The agency laid a trap by asking Babu to hand over Rs 20 lakh in cash to Tiwari.
After the ED officer received the cash from Babu at Thomiarpuram on Dindigul-Madurai highway, a team of V&AC officials chased Tiwari’s car, intercepted him at the Kodaikanal Road Toll Collection Plaza and seized the cash.
The ED official’s arrest came amid the face-off between the state government and ED over the latter’s summons to five district collectors in connection with a probe into alleged money laundering linked to illegal sand mining.
Early this week, the High Court stayed the summons for three weeks.
IANS
