Probe on in bribery case against govt staff, say Kerala Police

Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner CH Nagaraju said that an FIR without naming anyone as accused has been registered based on Akhil Mathew’s complaint, the personal staff of the health minister, against whom the bribery allegations have been made

Kochi: An investigation has been launched into the bribery allegations raised by a Malappuram resident against the state health minister Veena George’s personal staff, Kerala police said on Thursday.

A team has been dispatched to Malappuram to take the statement of Haridasan, who according to media reports, has paid the bribe in exchange for a job. We will verify his allegations, police said

Thiruvananthapuram city police commissioner CH Nagaraju said that an First Information Report without naming anyone as accused has been registered based on Akhil Mathew, the personal staffer of the health minister’s complaint, against whom the bribery allegations have been made by a man named Haridasan. The minister said on September 27 that Mathew claimed innocence about the matter and that she asked him to file a police complaint in order to bring out the truth in the case.

Nagaraju told reporters on Thursday, “The police headquarters forwarded to us the complaint filed by Akhil Mathew along with a cover letter. We took Mathew’s statement and registered the FIR without naming anyone as the accused. A team has been dispatched to Malappuram to take the statement of Haridasan, who according to media reports, has paid the bribe in exchange for a job. We will verify his allegations. This is a cheating case connected to job fraud.”

“Scientific evidence should be collected to prove the charges. Some payments were reportedly made through the bank so that will become evidence. We will check everything including CCTV visuals and e-mails. We will get a complete picture of the case by Friday evening,” the top cop said.

Haridasan told local media channels on September 27 that he had paid ₹1 lakh to Mathew and ₹ 75000 to Akhil Sajeev, a former CITU worker who had acted as a middleman, as bribes in exchange for a job as medical officer at an Ayush centre for his daughter-in-law. Days after paying the bribes, the man said that his daughter-in-law received an appointment letter through e-mail which turned out to be fake. He later complained to the health minister’s office earlier this month informing them about the charges of bribery.

CPM state secretary MV Govindan, when asked about the bribery charges, said that the police has launched a probe which will bring out the truth in the case.

Leader of Opposition VD Satheesan termed the bribery allegations ‘shocking’ and faulted the health minister’s office for handing over the complaint to the police over 10 days after it was received from the complainant, Haridasan.