₹5.5 lakh seized from house of panchayat official arrested in ₹15 lakh bribery case in Kochi

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has launched an intensive investigation after the arrest of a grama panchayat official who was caught red-handed here accepting a bribe of ₹15 lakh on Tuesday. VACB officials said a sum of ₹5.5 lakh, suspected also to be bribe in another case, was seized from the house of T. Deepesh Kumar, an overseer with the Vadavucode-Puthencruz grama panchayat in Ernakulam district, during a search conducted late Tuesday after his arrest.

The amount was seized from the house at Thengode. The VACB was on Wednesday searching Mr. Deepesh Kumar’s house at Kanhangad in Kasaragod district and also at the rented residence of his wife in Bengaluru. The VACB’s Kasaragod unit was conducting the search at Kanhangad while a team from Ernakulam was in Bengaluru, VACB sources said.

The Ernakulam unit of VACB, headed by DySP T.M. Varghese, arrested Mr. Deepesh Kumar while allegedly accepting ₹15 lakh for issuing a completion certificate for a warehouse constructed by a businessman. He was nabbed from near the Civil Station at Kakkanad Collectorate around 9.15 p.m.

The overseer allegedly accepted ₹5 lakh in cash and a cheque for ₹10 lakh at a pre-arranged spot near the Collectorate, when officers moved in and arrested him.

The overseer had allegedly demanded ₹20 lakh to clear the file concerned while inspecting the site. The amount was brought down to ₹15 lakh following bargaining over phone conversations.

Trap

Unwilling to pay the amount, the complainant then approached the VACB in Ernakulam. The vigilance team then set the trap, which they claim to be the biggest in terms of the amount, in the agency’s history in the State.

The accused was produced before the Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court on Wednesday.

Mr. Deepesh Kumar was transferred to Vadavucode-Puthencruz only a month ago. Before that he was working at Kadamakudy grama panchayat.