The corruption case registered by the Ernakulam unit of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in Kerala in which three persons were arrested on the charge of attempting to take a bribe of ₹2 crore from a businessman to allegedly get him off the hook of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken a dramatic turn after it emerged that the VACB has arraigned an officer of the ED Kochi unit as the key accused.
Shekhar Kumar, assistant director of the Kochi unit of the ED, has been named as the key accused in the remand report filed by the VACB before the Muvattupuzha Vigilance Special Court while producing the second and the third accused in the case. Wilson Varghese, 36, of Thammanam and Mukesh Kumar, 55, of Rajasthan, were arrested by the VACB on Friday. VACB also arrested Ranjith Warrier, a Kochi-based chartered accountant, in the case on Saturday. Reportedly, he shared the details of the businessman with Wilson.
S. Sasidharan, Ernakulam VACB Superintendent, told the media that the ED official was arraigned as an accused based on the businessman’s statement. However, the official’s role remains to be verified, and that is why he has not been arrested yet, he said.
The case was registered on a complaint by a Kollam-based businessman who runs a cashew export-import firm. According to the remand report, the businessman was summoned to the Kochi unit of the ED in 2024 on the grounds that his firm’s turnover was very high and that accounts had been forged to mask money laundering.
The first accused demanded that the businessman produce documents dating back years and threatened to register a case and imprison him, said the remand report. Shortly thereafter, the second accused, Wilson, contacted the businessman with an offer to sort out his ED trouble by paying ₹2 crore to the first accused, stated the remand report.
Wilson asked the businessman for ₹2 lakh in liquid cash to be handed over in person to the first accused on May 15, 2025. Following this, the businessman lodged a complaint with the VACB. The enforcement agency registered a case after pre-verification and set a trap for Wilson when he turned up to collect the marked currency notes worth Rs. 2 lakhs from the businessman on May 16.
Wilson was arrested near the Cross Road 12 in Panampilly Nagar while receiving the money from the businessman. During his interrogation at the station, Wilson claimed that he was just a middleman and named the third accused, Mukesh, and claimed that he had come to collect the money at his instance. Wilson also said that it was Mukesh who had given him the account details of a bank account in Thane to which the businessman had transferred ₹50,000.
VACB brought in Mukesh, and on verifying his mobile phone, found Wilson’s account to be true, said the remand report. Mukesh, who works at a home appliance firm in Jew Street in Kochi, is suspected of hawala links and prima facie appears to have such shady dealings in collusion with the ED officials in the Kochi unit, the remand report said. VACB has seized his two mobile phones for examination.
The accused have been booked under the Prevention of Corruption Act Section 7A (attempt to influence a public servant, either directly or indirectly, by offering or accepting undue advantages to induce improper or dishonest performance of a public duty) and the Bharatiya Nyaya Section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy).
Published – May 17, 2025 01:13 pm IST
