The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) sleuths on Thursday took into custody as environmental engineer with the Kerala State Pollution Control Board (PCB) for allegedly taking bribe from a rubber tyre vendor in Pala.
The accused was identified as A.M. Haris, district environment officer in Kottayam. He was arrested while taking ₹25,000 as bribe from the owner of a rubber retreading company in Pala. Acting on a complaint lodged by Jobin Sebastian, owner of P.J. Rubber retreading company at Ullanad, near Pala, the VACB sleuths laid a trap by giving phenolphthalein-applied currency notes to be handed over to the accused and caught him red handed.
Following the arrest, VACB officials raided his apartment near Aluva and unearthed unaccounted cash worth ₹17 lakh. The money, kept in currency notes of 500 and 2,000 were stashed in different places, including a pressure cooker and rice pot.
Meanwhile, the officials seized documents of his bank deposits and immovable assets such as 33 cents of land and a 2,000 sq ft house in Thiruvananthapuram. According to officials, the apartment owned by the accused near Aluva was worth around ₹80 lakh. During the raid, officials recovered documents of his foreign trips to more than 10 countries.
Officials said the accused had been transferred to Kottayam with a promotion just six months ago. He was produced before the Vigilance court and remanded.
Meanwhile, in a separate incident in Pathanamthitta, the VACB sleuths arrested a village officer at Omallur while allegedly taking ₹3,000 as bribe from a person for conducting mutation of property. The arrested was identified as Santhosh Kumar S.K., 53.
Officials said the accused demanded ₹5,000 from the complainant for executing the mutation of the property from his mother’s name to him. Following this, he approached the VACB, which in turn, laid a trap. The accused will be produced before Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance court.
