Top Tamil Nadu health official caught seeking bribe on camera kills self 

CHENNAI:  K Sridhar, a senior government health official who was caught on camera accepting a bribe from a visually impaired person in September, allegedly killed self on Wednesday in outskirts of Chennai.

Police sources said Sridhar, who was serving as the director and superintendent of Government Ophthalmic Hospital in Egmore, hanged himself to death in his friend's house at Ponneri on Wednesday. The news of his death emerged only on Thursday.

In September, a Chennai-based citizens rights group Arappor Iyakkam posted a video claiming to have captured Sridhar seeking a bribe of Rs 500 from a visually impaired person for issuing a disability certificate.

The seven-minute video shows a person looking like Sridhar asking the disabled person who was seeking a '50 per cent visual impairment certificate' to pay Rs 500 as 'fee'.

In the video, when the disabled person said he did not have enough money, he was asked to get one of his friends to transfer the amount. The man was then seen handing Rs 200 to what seems to be the 'doctor's assistant who in turn, hands him the certificate.

Jayaram Venkatesan, convenor of Arappor Iyakkam then said, " The visually impaired person in the video, who is a volunteer of Arappor, had gone to acquire the latest certificate since the old one had become invalid."

Health secretary J Radhakrishnan had said an enquiry has been launched into the issue. A complaint also been filed with the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption.

The director of medical education, which conducted an internal enquiry, had subsequently recommended the suspension of Sridhar from the post of director and superintendent of Government Ophthalmic Hospital, Egmore.