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The Kerala Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) is investigating allegations of bribery against an Assistant Director of Enforcement Directorate (ED) from Ernakulam after a man, purported to be an agent, was apprehended while accepting Rs 2 lakh in cash from a businessman under investigation. The ED has denied the allegations calling it a ploy to derail a money laundering probe launched by them.
On May 15, VACB arrested Wilson Varghese, a native of Ernakulam, who introduced himself as an ED agent and demanded a bribe of Rs 2 crore from Aneesh Babu, a businessman based in Kottarakkara.
Wilson demanded the money allegedly to stave off an ED investigation against Aneesh. The VACB caught Wilson when he received a bribe of Rs 2 lakh in cash.
According to the complainant Aneesh Babu, Wilson demanded the money for Shekar Kumar, the ED Assistant Director from Ernakulam, who interrogated Aneesh earlier in connection with alleged irregularities in foreign fund transfers.
After Wilson was interrogated, another person, Renjith Varrier, a Kochi-based Chartered Accountant, was taken into custody by the VACB. According to a source in the Vigilance Department, during the interrogation, Wilson revealed Renjith’s name and said the person had provided him with the address and other details of Aneesh Babu.
“It was intriguing how a chartered accountant gained information about a person who received a summons from ED. This is how the investigation pointed to ED officers. However, we are currently at the stage of collecting evidence,” a vigilance source told TNM.
VACB named Shekar Kumar as the primary accused in the bribery case, with Wilson and Mukesh Jain as the second and third, respectively. The First Information Report was filed against three of them under sections 7 (a) [taking undue advantage to influence a public servant] of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 61(2) [criminal conspiracy] of the Bhartiya Nyay Sanhitha (BNS). VACB has so far arrested three persons – Wilson, Mukesh Jain, and Renjith Varrier – in the case.
After Wilson’s arrest, the VACB received many complaints about ED officials allegedly demanding bribes over phone. However, no one has officially filed a complaint yet.
How a vigilance trap led to ED officers
The developments began after Aneesh, who is involved in cashew export, informed the VACB about the demand for bribes. In December 2024, Aneesh received a summons from the ED, with the appearance date set for February 2025.
This was not the first time Aneesh was being probed by ED. Aneesh said he had received a summons from the agency in 2021 for which he replied through his lawyer.
In February, when Aneesh appeared at the ED office, they asked him to submit the bank statements of his Tanzanian company. “Since it had been closed many years ago, I informed them that it was not possible to submit the documents. But they were unwilling to listen,” Aneesh said.
Aneesh received a second summons in March and again appeared at the ED office. “Since the company was registered under my mother’s name, both my mother and father also received the notice and appeared with me each time,” he added. He alleged that, during the interrogation, Shekar Kumar threatened to arrest him and his family members.
A few days after the interrogation, Aneesh said Wilson contacted him and allegedly demanded Rs 2 crore to end the ED probe. To convince Aneesh that he was an ED agent, Wilson said he would ensure one more summons would be issued to Aneesh. On May 14, Aneesh received another summons.
Wilson instructed Aneesh to transfer money in four installments of Rs 50 lakh to an Axis Bank account number in Mumbai. Wilson also demanded Rs 2 lakh in cash from Aneesh.
Aneesh initially gave an oral complaint to the VACB and later registered an official complaint. When Wilson asked Aneesh for Rs 2 lakh, the VACB officers provided him with bank notes laced with the chemical phenolphthalein. Aneesh and Wilson met in Panambally Nagar, where VACB officials apprehended Wilson.
Events before Wilson approached Aneesh
Aneesh said he used to run an export company in Tanzania. “In 2017-18, Tanzania banned exports, which caused my business to decline. This led to a legal dispute with my clients. In 2021, I received a summons related to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) to check whether I misused the payments sent to foreign countries,” he said. His lawyer sent a postal reply but he did not hear from the ED until the end of 2024, Aneesh added.
The ED has denied any connection with the bribery case and claimed it was a conspiracy by the complainant to malign the agency’s image. According to an India Today report, the ED probe was launched in 2021 after five FIRs were registered against Aneesh and his parents by the Crime Branch and Kottarakkara police for allegedly cheating several individuals to the tune of Rs 24.73 crore under the guise of importing cashew nuts.