Kochi: Two men, who acted as agents of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) and demanded ₹2 crore to settle a case with a Kollam-based industrialist who had received a summons, have been arrested. The VACB (Vigilance and anti-corruption bureau) officials arrested Wilson, a resident of Thammanam, in Ernakulam and Murali Mukesh, a native of Rajasthan, while receiving ₹2 lakh from the businessman at Panampilly Nagar on Thursday. The FIR filed by the VACB has named Sekhar Kumar, Assistant Director, ED as the first accused. His arrest has not been recorded. Vigilance officials said that the role of the ED official is being probed and that he was named in the FIR as per the complaint.

A press note issued by the VACB noted that a man engaged in the cashew nut business received a summons in 2024 from the ED office. It was communicated that his firm's turnover was huge, and he tampered with the documents to divert funds to foreign countries. He appeared at the ED office, and Sekhar Kumar asked him to produce documents of his business from previous years and told him that if he failed to furnish documents, a case would be registered.

Later, the businessman got a call from Wilson, who introduced himself as an ED agent. He also met with the complainant and told him that ED officials demanded ₹2 crore to settle the case and to bolster his credibility, he said that he would ask the officials to send another summons to the industrialist. He received another summons on May 14. Wilson told him that an amount of ₹50 lakh shall be deposited in a private bank's account in Mumbai as four instalments. In addition, he was asked to pay ₹2 lakh directly to Wilson and also gave his account number, saying that ₹50,000 should be transferred to this account.

The industrialist approached the Deputy Police Superintendent, VACB, Ernakulam, with the complaint. The VACB official laid a trap and directed the complainant to hand over ₹2 lakh to Wilson. While the cash was being handed over, the VACB held Wilson. During the questioning, Wilson opened up about the involvement of another person named Murali, who was also arrested later.