Former deputy tahsildar sentenced to 8 years’ RI in bribery case

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Kollam Vigilance Court on Saturday (October 31) convicted and sentenced a former deputy tahsildar of Kunnathur taluk to eight years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh in a graft case dating back to 2014.

The convict, Babu, 63, son of Sadasivan and a native of Karunagappally, was caught red-handed by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) while accepting a bribe to release a seized laterite stone-cutting machine.

According to the prosecution, the case originated when the official abused his position to accept an initial bribe of ₹3,000 from a complainant based in Mynagappally, facilitating unauthorised laterite stone quarrying. However, when the complainant failed to pay the next installment of the bribe, the official raided the quarrying site located on property belonging to the complainant’s friend’s wife. Without following due legal procedure, he seized the stone-cutting machine and towed it to the Kunnathur taluk office.

To forward a necessary report to the Mining and Geology department for releasing the equipment, the deputy tahsildar demanded and accepted an additional bribe of ₹2,000 at the taluk office. Later, after the complainant paid the official fine to the Geology department, the accused demanded a final installment of ₹5,000 to authorise the release of the machine. The Kollam Vigilance team set a trap and caught him red-handed as he was taking the money.

Vigilance Special Court Judge Mohit C.S. pronounced the verdict. He sentenced Babu to three years of imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹50,000 under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act (PCA), along with five years of rigorous imprisonment and a ₹50,000 fine under different sections of the PCA. Public prosecutors P.S. Divya and Siju Rajan represented the prosecution. The initial case was registered and investigated by former Vigilance DySP Rex Boby Aravin, followed by DySP R. Jayashankar, before DySP K. Ashok Kumar completed the probe and submitted the final charge-sheet.

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