ED starts internal probe into bribery case against its official

The Enforcement Directorate(ED), which is in the dock after an assistant director  with its Kochi unit was named prime accused in a Rs 2-crore bribery case registered by the Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), is learnt to have started an internal investigation into the allegations raised against its officials.

The ED director has sought a report from the Kochi Zonal head on the allegations leveled against its officials. He has  instructed the Kochi Zonal head to examine the allegations against Assistant Director Shekhar Kumar and submit a report on it.

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The  Kerala Vigilance and Anti -Corruption  Bureau (VACB)  has made the ED assistant director 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.

Meanwhile, the Kerala VACB has intensified its investigation into the bribery case and  is trying to gather more evidence against ED assistant  director, the first accused in the case. 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 reportedly concluded that hawala transactions were involved in the transfer of bribe money. It has been  reported  that the fraudulent money was smuggled through hawala. The third accused in the case, Mukesh, was the one who smuggled the money. Mukesh, a link in the inter-state hawala gang, transported the money deposited in an account in Mumbai to the place indicated by the ED officials through hawala, it has been reported. The statement received by the VACB also reportedly states that Mukesh smuggled the money to many states outside Kerala.

The VACB SP Sasidharan said the ED officer’s role is being investigated and that the ED has not been contacted in the case yet.

It has been reported that apart from Shekhar Kumar, some other ED officials, including those who worked in Kochi  in the past are also on the VACB radar. After the first accused, Assistant Director Shekhar Kumar, the complainant Aneesh is pointing his finger at more officials in the Kochi ED office. Aneesh alleges that Deputy Director Vinod Kumar of the ED office summoned him and subjected him to mental torture by verbally abusing him.

Meanwhile, VACB Ernakulam SP S Sasidharan said they had received some oral complaints and were in the process of assessing their authenticity and gathering more information.