Palakkad: In a straight-out-of-a-movie incident, Kerala vigilance has seized Rs 35 lakh from the rented house of an unsuspecting village office assistant who was caught taking a bribe and said to be having illegal earnings to the tune of Rs 1 crore in Palakkad district of the state on Tuesday, officials said. The raid was carried out at the rented apartment of the accused Field Assistant V. Suresh Kumar at Mannarkkad Village.
A vigilance official said that Rs 35 lakh in cash along with coins and bank deposit documents of about Rs 70 lakh were recovered from the one-room rented apartment of the accused. The recovered cash includes 17 kg of coins. The vigilance team counted the bribe money by bringing a note-counting machine from a nearby shop.
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The team also claimed to have unearthed illegal earnings of Rs 1 crore from him. It is learnt that the accused has worked in various offices in Mannarkkad taluk of Palakkad district for 20 years. He lived in the same rented place for ten years. A native of Thiruvananthapuram, his house is also being inspected in connection with the case for more possible recoveries.
An official said that the raid was carried out after the accused was caught red handed while taking a bribe from a complainant. Kumar was caught by the vigilance while accepting a bribe of Rs 2500 for issuing the location certificate of the property. The arrest took place on Tuesday morning. During the vigilance inspection, it was found that he had also taken food items, honey, pen, shirts and dhotis as bribes.
Accused Suresh Kumar was under vigilance surveillance for a month. It is alleged that the accused used to take bribes from the applicants by deliberately delaying the certificates. Vigilance also said that Suresh Kumar had taken Rs 10,000 as a bribe from the complainant six months ago and Rs 9,000 five months ago for the possession certificate.
The complainant lodged a complaint with Vigilance when he demanded a bribe for the third time.
