TNPSC officials premises raided

CHENNAI: The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) sleuths on Friday raided the residence and offices of 14 staff members including the Joint Secretary of the Tamil Nadu Public Service Commission (TNPSC).Police said that the raid was part of the investigations into alleged corruption in the recruitment process and that more incriminating documents have been seized.On October 14, the DVAC sleuths raided the residence and offices of the chairman and members of TNPSC and police said that the search was a continuation of the previous raid. The previous raid was conducted following allegations of corruption in recruitment of assistant dental surgeons, motor vehicle inspectors and recruitment of Group-1 officers.Police said 14 teams, each headed by a DSP and one to three inspectors searched the residence of 14 officials of TNPSC including joint secretary Michael Jerard’s house at Lloyds Colony, Royapettah, residence of under secretaries E Sugumaran and Ravi D Elangovan at Raja Annamalai Puram and Madipakkam respectively. Residences of SP Usha, Section officer at Anna Nagar and 10 assistant section officers including Syed Irfan Ahmed, Selection Grade ASO were also searched. “We seized property documents, bank passbooks and cheque books. Cash and jewels were also found,” said a police official.Sources said the three Deputy Superintendents of Police had arrived at the TNPSC office to stop files moving in the offices of the staff members, whose residences were raided. “We will sort out the documents and evaluate them before submitting them to the court,” a senior police official said.