The Kerala High Court has upheld the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court verdict awarding one-year imprisonment and a fine of ₹4,000 to a policeman in a corruption case.
However, Justice P. Ubaid acquitted two other accused police personnel in the case.
The acquitted are V.M. Kerson and Antony Cronis, who were then additional sub inspector of police, Erakulam Central police station, and police constable of the Mulavukad police station respectively. The convicted is C.R. Santhosh, who was then a police constable at the Ernakulam Central police station.
The case
The charge against them was that they had received a bribe of ₹15,000 each from two traders of mobile recharge coupons after threatening them that they would be arraigned as accused in mobile theft cases.
It took place in 2007. The Thiruvanathapuram Vigilance Court had convicted all the three accused and sentenced them to one-year rigorous imprisonment each and a fine of ₹4,000 each.
The High Court observed that while there was a clear evidence that the first accused C.R. Santhosh had accepted illegal gratification, the prosecution had no material against the other two accused.
