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Kozhikode (Kerala) | A Vigilance court in Kozhikode has sentenced a former Village Assistant to four years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs one lakh in a bribery case involving the issuance of ROR certificates.

Vigilance Judge Shibu Thomas on Thursday convicted AB Anil Kumar (58), a native of Aroor, Alappuzha, and former village assistant of Kodur in Malappuram.

According to the prosecution, the case pertains to an incident in 2018 when a resident of Kodur applied at the local village office for Record of Rights (ROR) certificates for five acres of land spread across seven survey numbers, originally owned by his deceased father.

Kumar inspected the property and demanded a bribe of Rs 30,000 to process and issue the certificates, subsequently accepting an advance payment of Rs 10,000 from the applicant.

Thereafter, the accused illegally entered the Kodur village office at night, used the village officer's official login credentials to generate the ROR certificates via the government website, and forged the officer's signature while placing official seals on the documents.

Later, he was caught red-handed by the Malappuram Vigilance unit while accepting the remaining bribe amount of Rs 15,000 from the complainant at his residence in exchange for the forged certificates.

The case was investigated by the Malappuram Vigilance Unit under Deputy Superintendents of Police A Ramachandran and Firoz M Shafeek, with Inspectors C Yusuf, M Gangadharan and Rafeeq also part of the investigation team.

Public Prosecutor Arun Nath K appeared for the Vigilance.