Amid tight security, the police on Tuesday produced Enforcement Officer (EO) Ankit Tiwari, who was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe amount, before a court in Dindigul. The court granted the Directorate of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption (DVAC) sleuths three days’ custody to interrogate the accused.
Further, the court directed the police to produce the accused on December 14.
On December 1, following a complaint from Suresh Babu, a civil surgeon at the Dindigul Government Medical College and Hospital, the DVAC sleuths began an inquiry.
The complaint was that Mr. Tiwari, working as EO at the Madurai ED office, allegedly demanded ₹20 lakh as bribe from him so as not to pursue a case filed against him by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption in 2018.
Following instruction from the vigilance officials, Dr. Suresh handed over the bribe amount at a location near Dindigul, following the vigilance officials caught Mr. Tiwari “red-handed.” He was nabbed near Kodaikanal Road Toll Collection Plaza after a car chase.
After discreet probe and searches conducted in the Enforcement Directorate office in Madurai and at his residence in Kosakulam in Madurai, the DVAC sleuths produced the Enforcement Officer before a court in Dindigul, which remanded him in judicial custody.
The officer was jailed in Dindigul. However, after he complained of uneasiness, he was shifted to Central Prisons, Madurai. Authorities refused Mr. Tiwari’s request for a first-class facility in the prison, citing that he needs to obtain a court order for it.
Against this backdrop, Mr. Tiwari was produced before the court amid tight security on Tuesday. His lawyers objected to the custodial interrogation. After the lawyers representing the DVAC insisted that the accused had to be examined in detail, the court granted permission for three days and ordered that he be produced on December 14.
The Enforcement Officer had reportedly told the DVAC sleuths that the bribe amount was intended to be disbursed among a few senior officers in Madurai and Chennai. The DVAC had earlier registered a disproportionate assets case against Dr. Suresh.
Published - December 13, 2023 01:06 am IST
