The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Kozhikode, on Wednesday remanded Santhosh Kumar, 51, of Kozhancheri Meethal, Kottoolithe, the accused in the forging of seals and signatures of Kozhikode Corporation officials, in judicial custody.
He was arrested on Tuesday after he surrendered at the Kozhikode town police station. He was later taken to the Kozhikode Corporation office for evidence gathering.
The arrest came in the wake of a complaint filed by the Corporation Secretary on May 17, 2023, alleging that Santhosh Kumar had forged the seals and signatures of a Revenue officer and a clerk to change the category of a building from residential to commercial. He had also allegedly accepted a bribe of ₹25,000 from the owner of the building.
The application submitted by the owner for change of category was initially rejected after which Santhosh Kumar approached her posing as a licensed building supervisor. He handed over the application to the health wing. When it returned the application after scrutiny, instead of submitting it to the Revenue wing, Santhosh Kumar allegedly forged the signatures and seals of the Revenue officials concerned and returned it to the health wing.
The forgery came to light when the health wing forwarded the file to a higher official in the Revenue wing. An investigation that followed revealed that the signatures and seals had been forged.
The Secretary alleged that Santhosh Kumar had snatched the file from the health officer when questioned and had run off, following which the official complaint was filed.
Meanwhile, Santhosh Kumar had approached the Kerala High Court seeking anticipatory bail, but the plea was dismissed. Instead, the court asked him to appear before the investigating officer before July 14. However, he turned up at the Town police station only on July 20, upon which he was arrested.
Police sources said Santhosh Kumar had destroyed the file in question though a copy of it was later retrieved from the Corporation office. The police have evidence regarding the cash transaction though. “We have not been able to gather evidence regarding any similar cases involving the accused,” the police said.
