Thiruvananthapuram: Former AISF leader K P Basit, the suspected mastermind behind the job fraud allegations against the health minister's office will be interrogated on Wednesday. The police arrested him on Tuesday based on the statement of Haridasan, the man who raised bribery allegations against a personal staff member of Kerala Health Minister Veena George. According to reports, police will interrogate Rahees, another accused in custody and Haridasan along with Basit on Wednesday.
Basit who was nabbed from Manjeri has been taken to Thiruvananthapuram for the interrogation. Police suspect that Basit is also involved in swindling money from Haridasan.
At the same time, the probe team is also planning to record Haridasan's confidential statement before the magistrate. As per reports, Haridsasn had named Basit as the key conspirator behind the fake job fraud case.
The alleged fraud was highlighted by Haridasan, a resident of Malappuram district, and had triggered a political row in the state. Police said on Tuesday that according to Haridasan's statement, he was threatened by the conspirators in the case to make the fraud allegations. An FIR was registered under IPC Sections 419 and 420 (cheating) based on the complaint by Mathew. Haridasan had alleged that a personal staff member of the minister accepted Rs 1 lakh as a bribe for the appointment of his daughter-in-law as a government medical officer.
Haridasan, referring to Akhil Sajeev, had further alleged that a former office secretary of CITU in Pathanamthitta, who allegedly acted as a middleman, had also accepted a bribe for the said appointment. However, his daughter-in-law didn't get the job.
Minister's personal staff member -- Akhil Mathew -- who had denied Haridasan's allegations had filed a complaint with the police seeking a detailed probe into the matter. The accused Basit is suspected to be one of the main conspirators behind the bribery allegations against the personal staff member of the minister, police said and added that he was arrested on Tuesday evening in the case registered at Cantonment police station here.
Last week, accused M K Raees, a native of Kozhikode was arrested from that district for allegedly creating a fake email address related to temporary appointments in the Ayush Mission. Raees, who was arrested from Kozhikode, was also suspected of having had several monetary transactions with a former office secretary of CITU, the trade union wing of the CPM, who is also accused of being involved in the bribery case.
The former office secretary of CITU, Akhil Sajeev, who is suspected to be the kingpin in the alleged job fraud and bribery in the Kerala Health department, was nabbed last week from neighbouring Tamil Nadu and presently is in the custody of Pathanamthitta Crime Branch in connection with another case, police said. He has not yet been formally arrested in the case related to the bribery allegations.
(With PTI inputs)
