A Revenue Inspector was arrested at a municipal office in Virudhunagar after allegedly accepting Rs 3,000 from a resident who had applied to change the name on a property receipt, according to a report by Dinamalar – Tamil Nadu.
The resident, identified as Michael Raj of Virudhunagar, had approached the municipal office for the name-change process. The official, identified as Henry David, allegedly demanded Rs 4,000 for carrying out the work. Michael Raj agreed to pay Rs 3,000, but later approached the Virudhunagar district anti-corruption department instead of handing over the money without reporting the demand.
The complaint led to a planned trap by the anti-corruption police. The team, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police Ramachandran, provided Michael Raj with Rs 3,000 currency notes treated with a chemical. He was instructed to hand over the money to the official at the municipal office.
Michael Raj then gave the money to Henry David inside the office, as planned. Anti-corruption officers who were waiting nearby entered the premises and arrested David while he was allegedly accepting the cash. The officers also conducted a follow-up inquiry with him, the report said.
The case centres on a routine but important municipal property-record service. A name change in a property receipt can be required when ownership details or other property records need to be updated. In this instance, the process became the subject of a bribery complaint after the resident alleged that payment was demanded for completing the service.
The operation illustrates how anti-corruption agencies use trap proceedings in cases involving alleged demands for illegal payments. The complainant first records the alleged demand with the department, after which investigators arrange for marked or chemically treated currency to be handed over under surveillance. The arrest follows when the official allegedly receives the money.
The source report does not provide details of the specific property, the reason for the requested name change, the municipal department’s response, or the legal sections invoked against the arrested official. It also does not state whether the property-record application has since been processed.
The anti-corruption police’s next steps, including the formal case proceedings and any further action following the inquiry, will determine how the allegation progresses. The arrest remains connected to the alleged acceptance of the Rs 3,000 payment during the trap operation.
