Kottayam: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau has arrested a Kerala Education Department employee who apparently sought sexual favours from a teacher for rectifying some issues in her Provident Fund record. He had asked the teacher to come to a hotel.
Kannur native C R Vinoy Chandran, 42, a state nodal officer of the Government Aided Institutions Provident Fund (GAIN PF), was nabbed from a hotel room in Kottayam town. Vinoy is also a junior superintendent at Deputy Director Of Education Office, Kasaragod.
Why the teacher approached him
The PF amount remitted from the teacher's salary had not been recorded on the Annual Accounts Statement (the PF credit card) since 2018. She noticed this only when she tried to take a loan from the PF account. When she sought to resolve at this the district-level, she was asked to approach the state nodal officer.
Vinoy, who was not ready to resolve the complaint initially, asked her to make calls over WhatsApp, according to the teacher. Obscene language was used during phone calls and messages, as per her complaint.
Vigilance steps in
Amid this, the PF issues were rectified and he asked her to meet him in person as a favour. Following this, the woman approached the Kottayam Vigilance Police Superintendent V G Vinod Kumar with a complaint.
The Vigilance found out that Vinoy had arrived in Kottayam on Wednesday night to meet the teacher. He also asked the teacher to come to the railway station by 11am on Thursday. The teacher informed the Vigilance that he also asked her to buy a shirt for him. The teacher went to the railway station with the shirt given to her by the Vigilance team.
The Vigilance team waited in the rooms next to the room booked by Vinoy at the hotel. Vinoy who turned up at the hotel along with the teacher was arrested by the Vigilance.
The accused will be produced before the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court.
Shirt instead of currency notes
Usually during Vigilance raids, currency notes laced with phenolphthalein powder are used. But to nab the education department official in Kottayam, the Vigilance used a shirt coated with phenolphthalein powder. This is the shirt that the Vigilance had given to the teacher and it was recovered from Vinoy as evidence.
Not just money or gifts, but even such demands come under the purview of the Vigilance probe, officials said.
Kottayam Vigilance unit Deputy Superintendent of Police K Vidhyadharan, inspectors Saju S Das, R Ratheendrakumar, Reji M, S Jayakumar; sub-inspectors T K Anil Kumar, B Suresh Kumar, P S Prasannakumar, Gopakumar; Assistant SIs Stanley Thomas, Sabu, Anil Kumar, Harris, Tinumon; Civil Police Officers Manoj Kumar, Anoop, Rajesh, Arunchand, and Ranjini were part of the team that nabbed Vinoy.
