The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has slapped criminal enquiries against 40 Motor Vehicle department (MVD) officials under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988.
It has additionally recommended disciplinary action against 112 MVD officials on charges of bribery.
The action unfolded against the backdrop of the VACB’s simultaneous raids as part of operation “Clean Wheels,” targeting corruption in 81 MVD offices across the State, including 17 regional transport offices (RTOs) and 64 sub-regional transport offices on July 20.
Corrupt nexus
The agency found that a network of “dishonest” RTO officials and their agents had conceived a stifling, corrupt nexus which extorted significant amounts as bribes from citizens seeking various services.
For one, the agency found that the suspect RTO officials sought sizeable backhanders for allowing vehicles seeking fitness certificates for re-registration, driving license aspirants to bypass inspections and tests by conducting cursory examinations, thereby potentially jeopardising the safety of lakhs of road users, including pedestrians.
The VACB reported to the government that surveillance cameras at most driving test grounds were tampered with and rendered dysfunctional to aid those who have paid bribes to obtain licenses without proper scrutiny.
The VACB found that re-registration of ageing vehicles, issuance of fitness certificates, permits for lorries and buses, and conducting driving tests for permanent driving licenses were among the central avenues of corruption in the MVD.
The agency discovered that corrupt RTO officials and their agents used WhatsApp and Telegram to establish illicit communication channels, exchanging notes on citizens seeking various services to extort bribes and to deter those who attempted to bypass the corrupt nexus by filing independent applications.
The agency found that officials had bypassed seniority and kept hundreds of applications without processing. The corrupt nexus also outrightly rejected applications, chiefly those received online, citing minor errors, including typos.
UPI channels
“The agents funnelled a significant portion of the bribe, sometimes amounting to ₹8 lakh on a single day in some RTO offices, to the next of kin or benamis of corrupt officials via UPI channels to dodge surprise anti-corruption checks. They also send the officials a screenshot of the illegal UPI transactions to expedite service delivery,” an official said.
The VACB agents also detected wads of abandoned currency in the precincts of the MVD offices. “The seizures were just the ice-berg’s tip,” he said.
The VACB found that the MVD agents operated under the cover of driving schools, scores of them unlicensed, with scarce, obsolete training infrastructure, including rickety and rusting vehicles.
“In Malappuram and Kannur districts, investigators found that the ageing vehicles used for training drivers lacked registration, fitness certification, insurance cover and pollution control certificates. In one case, we found that the agents had gifted a retiring RTO official a four sovereign gold ring as a parting gift,” another official said.
Published – August 24, 2025 06:22 pm IST
