Anti-Corruption Agency Probes Book Purchases at Libraries in Tamil Nadu

What Happened

The Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption has started a detailed inquiry into money irregularities involving book purchases at the Anna Centenary Library in Chennai and the Periyar Arivulagam library in Coimbatore. Agency officers checked records at both libraries on Monday and Tuesday following a statement by Tamil Nadu School Education Minister Rajmohan claiming irregularities happened during the previous DMK government when buying books for the new Coimbatore library.

Investigation Details

Officers checked files in the third-floor administrative section of the Coimbatore library and questioned staff while collecting record copies. The probe follows complaints that books were bought at high prices with artificial intelligence-generated content, factual mistakes, fake author names, and fake ISBN numbers. Award-winning Tamil writer Perumal Murugan first pointed out these problems regarding book prices, quality, and content authenticity after visiting the Coimbatore library.

Context

Anti-corruption agencies in India frequently investigate state-level government purchases when leaders or public figures report financial irregularities or procurement flaws. Public libraries funded by state governments maintain strict rules on book procurement to ensure quality and fair pricing of public assets.