Coimbatore: A month after the registration department suspended five employees for syphoning off Rs 68.93 lakh from sub-registrar offices in Tirupur district, the city police on Wednesday arrested two people in connection with the case.
The arrested people were identified as R Shankar, 33, of Erode district, who was working as an assistant at the Tirupur joint sub-registrar office I and Jayasankar, owner of VB Online Typing Office, which was functioning near the sub-registrar office.
Police had formed a special team headed by assistant commissioner of central crime branch K Balamurugan after receiving a complainant from district registrar R Ramasamy.
The district registrar, in his complaint said that he received information from the heads of Tirupur joint sub-registrar I office, Tirupur joint sub-registrar II office, Thottipalayam sub-registrar office and Nallur sub-registrar office that the registration amount that needed to be submitted from their offices was misappropriated. Inquiry revealed that Rs 68,93,432, which was paid by the public for 47 registrations, were syphoned off by government employees, temporary computer operators and document writers.
On December 15, the registration department suspended joint sub-registrar I Vijayashanthi, joint sub-registrar II Muthukannan, assistants R Shankar and P Panneerselvam and junior assistant Monisha.
Shankar had purchased a property in the name of his parents at Surampatti in Erode district, a police officer said, “He had cancelled two registrations illegally without the knowledge of the public and used the money to register the property. He would register properties online and with the help of officials at the sub-registrar office, cancel registration. He would use the registration number to register properties of others and receive the registration amount in cash, which he used to split with the officials,” he said.
The accused were arrested under sections of 409, 120 (B), 468, 471, 477 (A) of IPC and 66(c) of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and remanded in judicial custody.