The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has filed a preliminary report stating that it has incriminating evidence to pursue criminal charges against a set of persons in connection with its investigation into the controversial bid to illegally convert a piece of wetland in central Kochi to saleable real estate.
VACB Director Anil Kant is scheduled to take a call on the further course of the probe even as the agency pressed ahead with the arrest of three persons, including an official attached to the Land Revenue Commissioner’s (LRC) office in Thiruvananthapuram.
The prosecution case is that the landowner had engaged a “seasoned” middleman to procure forged government documents and Revenue Department orders to abet the illegal conversion.
The owner of the land and also the alleged middleman are the other accused in the case. Officials said there could be more arrests.
They were expanding the scope of the investigation as more persons, including public servants, could be involved in the land fraud or similar copycat crimes.
Tip of the iceberg?
Investigators said preliminary evidence indicated that the Choornikkara deceit was not a one-off case. It could just be the tip of the iceberg.
Officials said the investigation would target the LRC’s office here primarily.
The government on Monday suspended him from service pending the filing of criminal charges. The agency would examine the processes at the office to identify lacunae, if any.
Investigators said they had also brought the office of the Revenue Divisional Officer, Ernakulam, under the ambit of their probe.
Last week, the Aluva East Police arrested Abootty, aka Abu, of Sreemoolanagaram, near Kalady, and Arun of Karamana in Thiruvananthapuram in connection with the alleged forgery of documents.
Abu allegedly forged the documents and Arun, an office assistant at the office of the LRC, is accused of abetting it by stamping it with original seals.
According to the police, Abu took ₹7 lakh while he paid Arun ₹30,000 for forging documents for converting 71 cents categorised as wetland in revenue records into dry land.
Mr. Kant chaired a meeting in Kochi, where he reviewed the case.
