Intensifying its probe into the pension fund fraud in Kottayam municipality, the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Wednesday brought Akhil C. Varghese, the accused in the case, to the Kottayam municipal office for evidence collection.
The team collected documents and email information that Akhil, a former clerk at the civic body here, used to illegally transfer money. Led by Kottayam Vigilance Inspector Mahesh Pillai, the officers questioned Akhil in detail. Earlier, the Kottayam Vigilance Court sent Mr. Varghese to five days of custody.
Mr. Varghese is accused of defrauding the municipality’s pension fund by transferring ₹2.39 crore to his mother’s bank account. He allegedly committed the fraud while working as a clerk from March 2020 to 2023. He was arrested from his hometown of Kollam two weeks ago after being in hiding for nearly a year.
According to officials, the accused created fraudulent documents to siphon off family pension funds. Initially investigated by the Crime Branch, the case was subsequently transferred to the Vigilance Bureau.
After discovering the fraud, the municipal secretary had filed a complaint with the police against him. The accused had worked in the Kottayam Municipality for four years and during this time, he used to embezzle money in regular instalments every month from 2020 to 2023.
Even after his transfer to Vaikom municipality, Akhil continued to return to Kottayam to perpetrate the fraud.
The scale of the fraud was revealed during an analysis of the municipality’s annual accounts, where significant discrepancies were identified in the pension statements of retired municipal employees. This anomaly prompted the municipal secretary to raise the issue during a Municipality Council meeting last year.
Published – September 10, 2025 06:41 pm IST
