The DVAC personnel seized around ₹20,000 from the permanent and contractual employees at the Government Rajah Mirasdar Hospital here on Tuesday following complaints of ‘extortion’ by the staff deployed for duty at the maternity wards.

According to DVAC sources, following complaints of extortion by the assistants, sanitation attendants, and security personnel from the attendants and visitors calling on the patients in the ward on various counts such as ₹1,000 for delivering a boy, ₹500 for a girl, ₹50 to ₹100 to visit the mothers and pregnant women, a team of DVAC officials led by the Deputy Superintendent of Police, Anbarasan, visited the hospital on October 13 and questioned the staff for over six hours.

During the interrogation, they seized cash ranging from ₹800 to ₹3,600 from around 10 employees totalling ₹20,040 as the staff were unable to account for the cash.