Kochi: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has issued a fresh request to the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) seeking files on a Kollam-based businessman as part of its probe into a bribery case involving a top ED official. The VACB Kochi unit officials served a letter to the ED office in the city on Monday.

The letter seeks specific documents on Aneesh Babu, the Kollam-based cashew exporter who is also the complainant in the bribery case. The VACB has booked ED assistant director Sekhar Kumar and three others on charges of seeking ₹2 crore as a bribe from Aneesh to settle the probe against him. The fresh request was placed soon after the Kerala High Court issued an interim order preventing the VACB from arresting Sekhar until June 11. 

The VACB had earlier arrested the remaining three accused – Wilson, Mukesh Kumar and Renjith Warrier – in the connection with the bribery allegations. The three have been granted bail.

Though the Vigilance had sought the documents relating to Aneesh from the ED, the central agency refused to share them. “We were told to file a request with the specific details required for the investigation. Hence, we issued the fresh request,” VACB Ernakulam superintendent S Sasidharan told Onmanorama.

The ED has also requested that the VACB share the documents relating to the bribery case against Sekhar Kumar. However, the state police wing has yet to respond. It is learnt that the VACB has taken a stand that it cannot share the details at the current stage of the probe.

The VACB is carrying out a detailed cyber analysis of the phones and other gadgets seized from the three arrested people. Further action against the accused, including Sekhar, will be taken based on the results of the scientific evidence collection, an officer told Onmanorma.

The Vigilance inquiry against the ED official started after Aneesh filed a complaint with the police wing alleging Sekhar Kumar was seeking  ₹2 crore from him as a bribe using an agent. Wilson, a Kochi native who approached Aneesh as an ED agent, was arrested last month while accepting ₹2 lakh as he fell into a trap set by the Vigilance sleuths. Mukeshkumar from Rajasthan was arrested based on the statement given by Wilson and Renjith, a chartered accountant based in Kochi, was nabbed after questioning the duo. 

The VACB has booked Sekhar based on the statement given by Aneesh. The ED has issued a statement that Aneesh has made the allegation with the intention to derail the probe against him and evade consequences.