Jibu T Mathew was nabbed by the CBI sleuths when he got down the Shalimar Express at Alappuzha railway station on the way to his hometown in Pathanamthitta district. Thiruvananthapuram: The BSF commandant who was arrested in Alappuzha with Rs 45 lakh on him has committed an act of sedition, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said. Commandant Jibu T Mathew has confessed to have received the money from smugglers along the border with Bangladesh, the agency told a court.
Mathew was nabbed by the CBI sleuths when he got down the Shalimar Express at Alappuzha railway station on the way to his hometown in Pathanamthitta district. He has been remanded in CBI custody for two weeks.
The commandant who worked in Bengal along the Bangladesh border has been on CBI's radar for quite some time. Several security agencies have reported on him. The CBI has found that Mathew has helped out smugglers from the neighboring country to sneak across the porous border. The money found on him was part of the reward for the dirty work, the CBI said.
The CBI is also tracking several other BSF honchos who worked with Mathew. The remand report submitted in the Thiruvananthapuram CBI court has a detailed account of the racket.
Mathew was carrying the money in two bags, in denominations of 2,000 and 500. The CBI is also examining if the notes were counterfeit. He had wrapped the notes in plastic sheets and squeezed the bundles amid clothes.
Mathew was taken for interrogation to a hotel near the railway station as soon as he was taken into custody. He was later taken to Thiruvananthapuram. The CBI also conducted checks in the commandant’s house at Elanthur in Pathanamthitta district.
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