Corpn employee accused of running a job racket

Published Date: 14-July-2009

G Saravanan

Chennai, July 13: A CHENNAI Corporation staff, working with the Malaria department, has been accused of cheating more than 20 women by promising jobs in the civic body’s sanitary and general departments. The victims, most of them illiterate and hailing from suburban Red Hills, told Express that, Nuguraj, working in the Malaria department in 68th division (Anna Nagar East — Zone Five), has cheated them by collecting Rs 50,000 each with a promise of jobs in the Chennai Corporation.

Gajalaksmi, one of the victims and neighbour of Nuguraj, said, “It all started some 18 months ago, when I approached Nuguraj for a job to tide over financial crisis at home as he posed among the locals as an official working in the civic body’s headquarter.” With his luring words of better job in the civic body, Gajalaksmi gave him money(Rs 50,000)but the shock came very recently when she came to know that Nuguraj had cheated her after collecting the cash.

Not only Gajalakshmi, many other women from the same locality (Red Hills) were also cheated by Nuguraj after promising jobs in the civic body. When these women came to know that they lost everything as Nuguraj cheated them with well-laid trap, they planned to approach the civic body’s higher officials to settle the issue.

Sensing that the issue may cost his job, Nuguraj met these women and asked them not to meet any higher officials with complaint against him. He also gave them in writing that their amount could be returned to them very soon. It may be noted that, Nuguraj had openly admitted (in his assurance letter) that he collected the cash from these women for arranging jobs in the Chennai Corporation, but could not do so.

Meanwhile, Nuguraj shifted his family from Red Hills to Periyapalayam, which is further remote place. These affected women filed their complaint with the Corporation Health Officer first and recently they met the civic body’s Commissioner for action against their staff.The Commissioner forwarded the complaint to the civic body’s Vigilance Officer (VO) for further action. When contacted, a senior official in the civic body said that the VO has been asked to probe the matter.