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The Kerala police on Friday arrested a former activist of Centre of Indian Trade Unions(CITU), the trade union wing of Communist Party of India (Marxist), in connection with several financial malfeasance cases, including a job fraud case connected to the state health minister’s office, officers familiar with the matter said.
A team led by deputy superintendent of police (DSP) S Nandakumar from Pathanamthitta district nabbed Akhil Sajeev from an area in Theni district of Tamil Nadu and brought him to Kerala on Friday, the officers said, adding that his arrest has been recorded in an earlier case, booked against him in July 2021 for misappropriating money to the tune of ₹3.6 lakh from the books of CITU.
“He was not using cell-phones or other digital devices to avoid being caught. With the help of scientific and cyber clues, we got a location but he escaped from there also. Finally around 4 am on Friday, we were able to catch him near Theni,” DSP Nandakumar told reporters.
Sajeev, who worked as a secretary at a CITU office in Pathanamthitta, was dismissed from the organisation after his name cropped up in the financial malfeasance case.
At the same time, police suspect Sajeev to be involved in a job fraud case that came to the limelight last month. Haridasan Kummoli, a resident of Malappuram, had alleged that he had paid bribes of ₹1.75 lakh to Akhil Mathew, a personal staff member of health minister Veena George, and Akhil Sajeev in return for a job as a temporarily medical officer for his daughter-in-law, under the AYUSH department.
However, George defended her staff member claiming that Mathew was innocent and asked him to file a police complaint seeking the truth in the case. “When I got the written complaint [from Haridasan], I asked my personal staff member who was named in the complaint. He explained that he is innocent and that he has nothing to do with the case. He responded along with relevant facts. So I asked him to file a police complaint so that the truth comes out,” said George.
The Cantonment police filed an FIR last week based on Mathew’s complaint on charges of cheating and impersonation and began a probe.
According to police, Sajeev received ₹75,000 in two installments from Haridasan through mobile app payments, and is suspected to have impersonated Mathew in the job fraud case. While the offer letter, that Haridasan’s daughter-in-law got after paying the bribe, was proved to be fake later.
The Cantonment police has reached Pathanamthitta to question Sajeev in the job fraud case. One accused in the case is in remand while another is absconding.
Vishnu Varma is Assistant Editor and reports from Kerala for the Hindustan Times. He has 10 years of experience writing for print and digital platforms and has worked at The New York Times, NDTV and The Indian Express in the past. He specialises in longform reportage at the intersections of politics, crime, social commentary and environment.