Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), Special Cell, which probed the disproportionate assets case against Additional Chief Secretary Tom Jose has given a clean chit to the senior bureaucrat.
According to officials, the agency has filed its final report stating that the official possessed adequate sources of income, including ancestral inheritance, to account for his assets. ‘‘Based on the findings, a report suggesting that the action against him can be dropped as there is no need to proceed further with the case, has been submitted before the court,” said V.N. Sasidharan, Superintendent of Police, VACB Special Cell.
The VACB had earlier registered a case against him for amassing wealth disproportionate to his known source of income and carried out raids at the office and residences of Mr. Jose in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi, Irinjalakuda, and the residence of his friend in Pala in this connection. Further, the sleuths also subjected Mr. Jose to marathon interrogation in January 5 this year.
In the FIR submitted at Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court, the VACB had stated that Mr. Jose, while working as a government servant during the period January 2010-September 30, 2016, was found in possession of pecuniary resources and properties disproportionate to his known source of income. The wealth case was a follow up of an inquiry conducted against Mr. Jose regarding purchase of 19.5 hectares of agricultural estate at Sindhudurg district in Maharashtra.
The case was registered following a preliminary verification, which had found that the case had to be registered against him to receive further details about his source of income.