Illegal acquisition of property; retired RTO sentenced to one year in prison and fined Rs 37.5 lakh

KOZHIKODE: Retired RTO was sentenced to one year in prison and fined Rs 37.5 lakh for illegal acquisition of property. Kozhikode Vigilance Special Court Judge T Madhusudanan sentenced K Harindran (65), a resident of Chettipeedika, Pallikunnu, Kannur. If he does not pay the fine, he will be imprisoned for another six months.

Harindran worked as a Motor Vehicle Inspector, Joint Regional Transport Officer and Regional Transport Officer in Kozhikode, Vadakara and Thalassery from January 1989 to August 2005. The verdict is in a case registered by the Kozhikode Vigilance Special Cell that he illegally acquired property worth more than 38 lakh rupees while in service. The nine-acre land and the two-storied house acquired as benami in the name of four family members were confiscated by the government. The case is that unaccounted sums of 38,07399 rupees 94 paise were found in the ownership and benami of the accused when he retired on August 30, 2008. A vigilance check was conducted in the office before his retirement.

The accused acquired properties in various survey numbers in the names of family members P Lakshmi, TP Prabhakaran, Smita P and TP Mohanan at Pattanur and Irikkur in Kannur. Kozhikode Vigilance Special Cell DySPs I Muhammad Aslam, K Madhusudanan and T Unnikrishnan were investigating the case registered by the former Superintendent of Police K Zubair of Kozhikode Vigilance Special Cell. Vigilance Public Prosecutor Shailajan VK appeared for the prosecution.