Kochi: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has decided to verify the series of complaints it received against officials of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) in the wake of the probe into the high-profile bribery case involving a top official of the central agency.

The VACB has been receiving several complaints via phone in the past few days accusing ED officials of demanding bribe from people under their radar. Those who have made the calls have been asked to appear before VACB officials including Kochi unit Superintendent S Sasidharan and provide details of their complaints, VACB sources said.

The state agency will assess the scope of expanding the probe based on the results of verifying the latest complaints.

The VACB on Monday continued to interrogate three people arrested in the bribery case involving ED Assistant Director Shekhar Kumar. The VACB has got the three accused - Kochi native Wilson Varghese, Mukesh Kumar from Rajasthan and Kochi-based chartered accountant Renjith Warrier - in custody for five days.

Wilson was arrested while accepting ₹2 lakh as bribe on behalf of Shekhar Kumar as part of a trap set by the Vigilance sleuths based on a complaint from a Kollam-based businessman. Mukeshkumar was arrested based on the statement of Wilson and the chartered accountant was nabbed after questioning the duo. The VACB is trying to get enough evidence from the arrested persons before proceeding to arrest the accused ED official, Vigilance sources said.

The investigators raided the house of Renjith Warrier in Kochi and seized some gadgets. Renjith is accused of providing the details of the ED case against the Kollam-based cashew exporter to Wilson who contacted the businessman as an ED agent.