Thiruvananthapuram: An official of the commercial taxes department who played a key role in exposing the poultry export scam in which former finance minister K.M. Mani is now facing a vigilance probe, had faced a threat on his life in 2013. Top police sources said commercial taxes assistant commissioner Sreeraj K. Pillai who exposed the poultry scam involving a Thrissur-based group in 2011 faced the murder threat.
The police came to know about it after it arrested a criminal-quotation gang in Kollam in 2013. “A photograph was retrieved from the quotation gang and on interrogation the gang members admitted the plans to murder him,” sources said. “Subsequently, then police intelligence chief T.P. Senkumar reported the matter to the authorities concerned. The official, who was also part of the team that investigated the case which involved tax evasion, was then provided security.”
Police sources said the scam involving tax relaxations given by Mr. K. M. Mani did not surface during the time when the murder plot was being hatched. It may be recalled that the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau recently registered a case against Mr. Mani in connection with the scam for tinkering with tax rates.
