The Hindu : Kerala News : Move to drop graft case against RTO employees

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 04, 2004

Kerala

Kerala

Move to drop graft case against RTO employees

By M. Harish Govind

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, SEPT. 3. The Government is learnt to have decided to drop a Vigilance case registered against five employees of the Joint Regional Transport Office (RTO), Karunagappally, following a surprise raid conducted as part of "Operation Maruti" on August 9, 2002, during which sums of money suspected to be bribes were seized from them.

Following the raid, the Vigilance, Dy.SP, Kollam, K. Rajasekharan Pillai, had registered a case under Sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and the Indian Penal Code against five employees on September 27, 2002. They are Job Andrews and Bhadran, former UD clerks, A. V. Raveendran and Mahilakumary, former head clerks, and T. Lalimol, former LD clerk.

Unaccounted money

According to the case registered in this connection, the accused were found to be in possession of Rs. 940, Rs. 620, Rs. 36, Rs. 4,845 and Rs. 2,690 respectively, which they could not account for. During the raid, five persons who were identified as "agents" and were in possession of documents relating to various motor vehicles were found inside the office.

In the right drawer of Mahilakumary's table, two Rs. 100 notes, two Rs. 50 notes, two Rs. 20 notes and 12 Rs. 10 notes, totalling Rs. 460, were found by the raid team. A Rs. 1,000 note and three Rs. 500 notes were found inside one fold of her bag, while four Rs. 100 notes and two Rs. 50 notes were found in another fold.

Ten Rs.10 notes were found in one fold of the bag and four Rs. 50 notes, seven Rs.10 notes and three Rs. 5 notes were found in yet another fold. The notes were found in various folds and the money was not declared in the cash register. The accused was not been able to explain the source of the money.

A plastic bag belonging to Job Andrews, which was found beneath his table, contained 42 Rs. 10 notes, while he had Rs. 520 in his shirt pocket. Lalimol had Rs. 2,690 in her bag whereas she had declared Rs. 3,020. This led the Vigilance to suspect that she had shown a higher amount in the register in order to justify the expected bribe for the day.The five employees had been suspended following the raid.

Documentary proof

The Vigilance collected documentary evidence and questioned 18 witnesses as part of the investigation. The raid had been conducted as part of a special drive launched by the then Antony Government to end corruption in the administration and ensure transparency and efficiency.

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