Kerala High Court Seeks State's Response On Bail Plea Of ED Officer Who Was Accused Of Asking For ₹2 Crore Bribe

The Kerala High Court on Monday (May 26) sought State's response on a bail plea filed by an officer who is posted as an Assistant Director with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Kochi. It is alleged that the officer, through another person, demanded Rs. 2 Crore bribe for letting the complainant in a matter off the case. The plea was listed before Justice G. Girish.The officer in his application mentioned that the complainant complained against him to wriggle out of the prosecution initiated against the complainant by the Enforcement Directorate. It is stated that at least 5 cases were registered against the complainant for cheating money from several business after collecting them on the promise of supplying foreign cashew nuts at discounted rate. As per the petitioner, total amount of siphoned money comes to more than Rs. 24 Crore. The petitioner stated that case was registered by the Enforcement Directorate against the complainant and his parents based on these complaints.BackgroundThe complaint was given by one Aneesh Babu who was called to Kochi Enforcement Directorate Office in connection with the conduct of “Vazhavila Cashews', a company registered under his mother's name. As per the complaint, the petitioner behaved rudely with the complainant and alleged that the turnover for his company was high and that the money was used for other purposes abroad and they were forging the accounts for the same. Further, it is alleged that the petitioner demanded the complainant to bring business documents from long ago and threatened to put him in jail otherwise. It is alleged that subsequently, Wison Varghese (2nd accused) called the complainant and stated that he would be let off from the case if he pays petitioner Rs. 2 Crore. The FIR is registered in the Ernakulam Vigilance Station and the accused were booked under Section 7(a) of the Prevention of Corruption Act (offence relating to public servant being bribed) and Section 61(2) (criminal conspiracy)of BNS. The Vigilance officers had reportedly, laid a trap and arrested Wilson Varghese while he was accepting Rs. 2 Lakh bribe from the complainant. In the remand report, it was stated that during investigation, they found the involvement of a 3rd person, Mukesh Kumar (3rd accused) after questioning Wilson Varghese. As per the report, Mukesh is prima facie suspected to have involved in hawala and other unauthorised transactions. Ranjith Warriar, a charted accountant is arraigned as 4th accused.The Vigilance Court, Muvattupuzha had granted bail to accused 2-4 on May 22, after noting that there is nothing on record to show that the accused were informed of the grounds of arrest.The petition is moved by Advocates K. Aravind Menon, P. Vijaya Bhanu (Sr.), P. M. Rafiq, M. Revikrishnan, Ajeesh K. Sasi, Sruthy N. Bhat, Rahul Sunil, Sruthy K. K., Nanditha S., Sohail Ahammed Harris P.P., Aaron Zacharias BennyCase Title: Shekhar Kumar v State of Kerala Case No: BA 6918 of 2025

Kerala High Court Seeks State's Response On Bail Plea Of ED Officer Who Was Accused Of Asking For ₹2 Crore Bribe

Manju Elsa Isac

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