KOTTAYAM: A veterinarian has been arrested for accepting a bribe of Rs 10,000 from a dairy farmer who approached him for a subsidy eligibility certificate to buy a cow by availing a loan. The team of Vigilance SP VG Vinod Kumar arrested Dr Ajo Joseph of Peruva Mulakkulam Veterinary Hospital from his office around 12 noon yesterday.

The government is providing a loan of Rs 1.20 lakh to dairy farmers to purchase cows through the Rebuild Kerala scheme. Of this, Rs 60,000 is subsidy. For this, you need to produce a certificate from a veterinarian. The vet demanded ten thousand rupees as bribe for this certificate. The farmer from Mulakkulam offered to pay up to Rs 5,000 but the doctor refused. The person then approached the vigilance. The doctor was arrested after the farmer arrived at the hospital Friday morning to hand over money on the instructions of vigilance.

The vigilance team consisted of Vigilance South DySP AK Viswanathan, Inspectors Rijo P Joseph and Rajan K Aramana, SIs Vincent K Mathew, Sani Thomas, Thulaseedhara Kurup, Suresh Kumar and Thomas.