Forest employees held for demanding bribe to launch wage dues

A junior assistant of theForest Department in Vellore was arrested by sleuths of Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) for demanding and taking a bribe of ₹10,000 from the spouse of a deceased forest guard to launch pending wage dues.

DVAC sources stated that the complainant J. Shanthi, 55, is spouse of deceased Jayavel, a resident in Ranipet. Jayavel served as forest guard in Puttuthakku RF in Ranipet district earlier than he retired in 2022. His wage was revised below the Seventh Pay Commission. However, the revised wage dues weren’t launched to him.

After his retirement, Jayavel used to go to the divisional workplace of Forest Department in Vellore to hunt the discharge of revised wage dues of ₹2.18 lakh for the years between 2012 and 2022.

Officer calls for bribe

As he died in 2024, Santhi, Jayavel’s spouse, had been frequenting the divisional forest workplace to assert the dues. She requested Elumalai, junior assistant on the workplace, to clear the paperwork associated to pending dues of her husband.

However, Elumalai allegedly demanded a sum of ₹10,000 for the aim.

Unwilling to pay the bribe, Shanthi lodged a criticism with the DVAC. A seven-member group led by Okay. Sankar, Deputy SP, DVAC (Vellore), laid a entice and caught Ellumali. A case has been registered in opposition to him. A probe is below method.