In a widening probe into the Madurai Corporation property tax scam, two additional arrests were made on Sunday, bringing the total number of people arrested in the case to 19.
The latest suspects have been identified as:
T Karthik (30), a bill collector from Kovilpappakudi, and
A Badhusha (50), a contract worker from Keelapanangkadi.
They have been booked under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust), 465, 466, 468 (forgery), and 477A (falsification of accounts) of the Indian Penal Code, along with Sections 66C and 66D of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The scam first came to light when Dinesh Kumar, the then Madurai Corporation Commissioner, filed a formal complaint on September 6, 2024, with city police. An internal audit team had discovered that property taxes for 150 buildings had been deliberately reduced, bypassing the standard legal and procedural framework.
The previous high-profile arrest in the case was P Ponvasanth, husband of Madurai Mayor Indirani, suggesting possible links between officials and the fraud ring.
An ongoing investigation is being led by a Special Investigation Team (SIT), under the supervision of DIG Dr. Abhinav Kumar, to uncover the full extent of the scam and all those involved.
