Vigilance and anti-corruption police conducted a raid at the Greater Chennai Corporation’s Thiru.Vi.Ka Nagar zonal office on Strahans Road, Pattalam. During the search, officials seized foreign liquor bottles and cash, and later registered a case against five people, including Executive Engineer Saravanan.
Police said foreign liquor worth about Rs 32,000—five varieties—was recovered from Saravanan’s rest room. He reportedly told investigators that contractors had given the bottles as gifts.
In the same operation, cash totalling Rs 41,790 was seized from 82 people, including Assistant Commissioner Chokkalingam, according to the report. The FIR also mentions that Rs 12,600 was recovered from Zonal Health Officer Mohana Sundaram, who claimed it was brought to buy jewellery for his sister’s daughter, but did not produce bank withdrawal proof.
Investigators further noted that Saravanan gave inconsistent answers when questioned about monthly payments of Rs 25,000 and Rs 5,000 towards a chit scheme at a well-known jewellery shop on Anna Salai. The FIR states that Rs 10.61 lakh in his bank account was found to be unaccounted.
The FIR also records that Assistant Executive Engineer Saraswathi left the premises during the raid without informing zonal officials, later claiming she had gone to a meeting at Ripon Building on the Otteri canal improvement project, though she did not attend it. Police said Rs 3,200 was found in her handbag and Rs 1.71 lakh in her bank balance was flagged as unaccounted.
