The Kozhikode Vigilance Court sentenced a former Village Assistant to four years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of ₹1 lakh for accepting a bribe to issue Record of Rights (ROR) certificates.
Judge Shibu Thomas convicted A B Anil Kumar (58), a former Village Assistant at Kodur village in Malappuram and a native of Aroor in Alappuzha, for accepting a ₹15,000 bribe from a landowner seeking ROR certificates.

The case stemmed from a complaint filed by a Kodur resident, who had applied in 2018 for ROR certificates for five acres of land spread across seven survey numbers that belonged to his late father. According to the prosecution, Anil Kumar demanded ₹30,000 to process the application and initially collected ₹10,000 as an advance after inspecting the property.

Investigators said the accused later entered the Kodur Village Office illegally at night and used the Village Officer's login credentials to access the official portal. He generated the ROR certificates without authorisation, affixed the official seals of the Village Office and the Village Officer, and forged the Village Officer's signature on the documents.

He later handed over the forged certificates to the complainant at his residence. While accepting ₹15,000 of the remaining bribe amount, Anil Kumar was caught red-handed by the Malappuram Vigilance Unit. The investigation was carried out by former Malappuram Vigilance Unit DySPs A Ramachandran and Firoz M Shafeeq, along with former Inspectors C Yusuf, M Gangadharan and Rafeeq. Arun Nath K appeared for the Vigilance as Public Prosecutor.

Vigilance Director Manoj Abraham urged the public to report corruption through the Vigilance toll free number 1064, mobile number 8592900900, or WhatsApp number 9447789100.