Kerala Village Assistant gets 14 years’ rigorous imprisonment in corruption case

Kozhikode (Kerala): A vigilance court in Kozhikode has sentenced a village assistant to 14 years of rigorous imprisonment for misappropriating government tax revenue by forging documents and falsifying official records, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) said on Saturday.

The court found K Siyad, a village assistant formerly posted at the Kannur-I Village Office and presently posted at the Tirur Village Office in Malappuram district, guilty of siphoning off tax money due to the government.

According to the prosecution, while working at the Kannur-I Village Office, Siyad manipulated village office registers, created forged documents and made false entries, enabling him to misappropriate ₹1,62,450 in tax revenue.

Based on the evidence, the Kozhikode Vigilance Court imposed a cumulative sentence of 14 years’ rigorous imprisonment under various sections of law and levied a fine of ₹2.80 lakh, the VACB said.

Following the conviction, the accused, a native of Thana in Kannur district, was taken into custody and lodged at the Kannur Central Jail.

The verdict was delivered by Kozhikode Vigilance Court Judge K Ramakrishnan, while Public Prosecutor Usha Kumari K represented the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau.

PTI