Revenue Minister K. Rajan on Wednesday ordered a Vigilance inquiry into the alleged theft of gold ornaments from the court of the Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) at the Collectorate, stored as evidence in various cases registered between 2010 and 2019.
After inquest in unnatural death cases, valuables for which there are no claimants or which are in the centre of disputes are kept in the RDO’s court.
An order was earlier issued to carry out an inspection of all such materials stored in the chest and treasury after some of the materials were found missing. Their absence was detected after the family of a deceased sought the return of her valuables. It is estimated that 581.48 grams of gold, 140.5 grams of silver and ₹47,500 in cash have gone missing.
Custodians
The District Collector had earlier asked the department-level team, including the Additional District Magistrate, the Deputy Collector (Land Acquisition) and the RDO, to carry out an investigation and submit a report after an initial report from the RDO regarding the theft. Senior superintendents are the custodians of the lockers at RDO courts and the officers who discharged the responsibility during the period will come under the scanner.
The Peroorkada police have also commenced an investigation into the case.
