: The Kozhikode Vigilance Inquiry Commissioner and Special Judge has sentenced three persons including a former grama panchayat president of Irikkur in Kannur district to three years in prison and fined over Rs 60,000 for causing loss to the public exchequer in connection with the construction of a road 15 years ago.
Writing the judgement on Thursday, Judge V. Prakash found the former president Kunnampurathu Ekarathupurayil Abdul Aziz, 59, former secretary K.P. Kattukkaranveettil Ramankutty, 66, hailing from Thrissur, and a contractor Cheriyandilakathu Karim aka Abdul Karim, 64 of Thaliparamba, guilty under various sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) had taken up the case following a complaint filed by Mangadan Puthanpurayil Kunhi Moosa stating that the construction of the Mamanikunnu–Payassai road during 1997-99 had been done without using sufficient and quality materials. The panchayat president, secretary and contractor had entered into a conspiracy resulting in a loss to the State exchequer, the complaint alleged.
Surprise check
Subsequently the Kannur VACB Deputy Superintendent of Police M. Padmanabhan carried out a surprise check at the construction site and a case was registered in September 1999.
The investigation was carried out in a scientific manner. Later Dy.SP. K.P. Narayanan filed the charge-sheet in June 2005.
A retired executive engineer T.P. Ravindran was also named fourth accused in the case. However, his name was deleted from the list of accused after he expired.
The first and second accused were awarded nine years and five months under various charges and fined Rs. 63,000 while the third accused, seven years and fined Rs. 60,000. However, the imprisonment term will run concurrently.
The accused were found guilty under Section 13 (i) ( criminal misconduct by a public servant) of Prevention of Corruption Act and 486 (forgery for the purpose of cheating), 471 (using as genuine a forged document) and 120-B ( criminal conspiracy) of the IPC, said O. Sasi, Additional Legal Advisor, who appeared in the case.
The vigilance court also examined 16 witnesses and 41 documents.
Complaint that
road has been constructed
without using quality materials.
