Former forest officials sentenced in corruption case

Kochi: In a corruption case related to manipulation of official forest department records, the vigilance court in Muvattupuzha sentenced a former forest range officer and a section clerk to eight years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 40,000 each.The case pertains to financial irregularities in contract works carried out between 2003 and 2005 under Kothamangalam forest range limits. The accused, former Kodanad forest range officer M Kamaluddin, a native of Polayathodu in Kollam, and former section clerk M P Vijayakumar from Ilambakapilly, Ernakulam, were found guilty of forging official bills and office records. According to the prosecution, the duo manipulated documents to divert a bill amount over Rs 24, 000, which was due to a contractor from Paingottoor. The verdict was delivered by vigilance court judge G Rajan. The investigation was led by former DySPs C S Majeed and A U Sunilkumar. Public prosecutors Ranjith Kumar and Saritha V A appeared for the vigilance. Vigilance director Manoj Abraham urged the public to report corruption-related information through the toll-free number 1064, or via mobile numbers 8592900900 and WhatsApp at 9447789100.