In a Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) bribery case involving an Enforcement Directorate (ED) officer, the complainant, a Kollam-based businessman, came forward on Sunday with serious revelations pointing to a nexus between a middleman and ED officials.

Aneesh Babu, who runs a cashew export-import firm, said the ED office contacted him on the phone number he had used to call Wilson Varghese, one of the accused from Thammanam, Kochi, who introduced himself as an ED agent.

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Speaking to the media in Kochi, he revealed that Wilson acted as an intermediary between him and ED officers. Wilson allegedly initiated contact via phone and relayed information about the ED’s actions beforehand. Aneesh said whenever he (Wilson) anticipated a forthcoming call from the ED, it followed, suggesting coordination between Wilson and ED officials.

He claimed that ED Assistant Director Sekhar Kumar, the first accused in the case, never asked for a bribe directly but was identified by Wilson as the person behind the scheme.

Aneesh further claimed that he was subjected to undue mental pressure by the ED officials, particularly by a senior officer named Radhakrishnan, who is currently serving as the Additional Director of the ED.

The case is that Wilson contacted Aneesh for a bribe of Rs 2 crore on behalf of Shekhar Kumar, assistant director of the ED Kochi unit, to get him off a probe relating to alleged money laundering while the ED alleged that Aneesh has illegally invested money in businesses in Tanzania.

Three persons were arrested by the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) for allegedly attempting to swindle Rs 2 crore from a Kollam-based businessman by falsely claiming to help him drop an ED investigation against him.

The VACB has made ED Assistant Director Shekhar Kumar the prime accused in the remand report filed by it before the Muvattupuzha Vigilance Special Court while producing the second and the third accused in the case.

Wilson Varghese, 36, 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. He reportedly shared details of the businessman with Wilson.

The Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has launched a comprehensive investigation into the allegations. They have already taken three accused—Wilson Varghese, Mukesh Kumar, and Chartered Accountant Ranjith Warrier—into custody for five days and have conducted detailed interrogations. Their mobile phones have been sent for cyber forensic analysis, and a special investigation team has been formed.

The VACB has received legal advice, stating that there is no legal barrier to arresting Assistant Director Sekhar Kumar if sufficient evidence is found. Kumar is expected to be summoned soon. Other ED officials are under close surveillance, it has been reported.

Meanwhile, Opposition leader, VD Satheesan, alleged that a large percentage of officials in the ED are corrupt and that the agency is no longer fulfilling its intended mandate. Instead, he claimed, it is being misused as a tool to target political opponents of the central government .

He further alleged that the ED routinely sends notices to individuals and subsequently extorts large sums—sometimes running into crores of rupees—through intermediaries in exchange for settling cases

The complainant, Aneesh Babu, told the media on Sunday afternoon that when he said the name of a senior ED official this morning, he committed a mistake. He said it was ED Deputy Director Vinod Kumar who threatened him in the name of the case and that he mistakenly said the name as Radhakrishnan.

Aneesh said he identified the person when he saw the picture.