Kerala: Civil police officer sentenced to four years’ rigorous imprisonment in bribery case

Kozhikode (Kerala): A Vigilance court has sentenced a civil police officer to four years’ rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 50,000 for accepting a bribe after threatening to turn a woman into an accused in a criminal case.

The convict, Baiju M, a native of Ramanattukara, is a former civil police officer of Thenhipalam police station in Malappuram district and is currently working as a grade senior civil police officer at Vadanappally police station in Thrissur district.

According to the prosecution, a case was registered at Thenhipalam police station in 2017 against the complainant for allegedly forging documents.

Baiju, who was then working as a civil police officer at the station, was handling the case files, officials of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) said.

When the complainant appeared at the police station for signing formalities after securing bail, Baiju allegedly threatened to implicate the complainant’s wife in the case and demanded a bribe of Rs 5,000 to drop further action, the VACB said.

He had forcibly collected Rs 2,000 initially and later continued to threaten the complainant over the phone, demanding the remaining amount.

Following this, the complainant approached the VACB. Baiju was caught red-handed by the Vigilance Northern Range team while accepting the remaining Rs 3,000 as a bribe, after which a case was registered.

After completion of the investigation and trial, Kozhikode Vigilance Court Judge Shibu Thomas on Friday found Baiju guilty under two sections of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

The accused was sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for three years and to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 under Section 7 of the Act.

He was also sentenced to undergo rigorous imprisonment for four years and to pay a fine of Rs 25,000 under Section 13(2) (criminal misconduct) of the Act.

The court directed that both sentences shall run concurrently.

Public Prosecutor Arun Nath K appeared for the VACB.

The investigation was conducted by former deputy superintendents of police of the Vigilance Northern Range, Ashwakumar and P C Sajeevan.