Kochi: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday filed chargesheet in the corruption case against three Labour Department officials who are accused of accepting bribes regularly from labour contractors. The accused -- deputy chief labour commissioner A.K. Pratap, assistant chief labour commissioner, Kochi, D.S. Jhadav and enforcement officer C.P. Sunil -- were charged under various sections of Prevention of Corruption Act and Indian Penal Code. P.K. Aneesh Kumar, the HR manager of KK Builders, has been made the fourth accused in the case.
As many as 46 witnesses and 96 documents were listed in the chargesheet. It was alleged that the accused entered into a criminal conspiracy and demanded bribe from the human resource manager of the private firm which was carrying out construction projects at IIM-Calicut. In January, the CBI intercepted the accused persons while the HR manager handed over Rs 25,000 each to the deputy chief labour commissioner and assistant labour commissioner and Rs 10,000 to the labour enforcement officer.
In addition, Rs 50,000 was also recovered from the deputy chief labour commissioner. Searches were conducted on the residential and official premises of the accused. "Currently, the officers are under suspension. A report regarding the findings of the probe will be sent to the department concerned," a CBI officer said.
