The Kozhikode District Crime Branch has requested the District Police Chief to transfer the building number case in the Kozhikode Corporation to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau as it involves several government officials. However, the request is yet to be approved by the State Police Chief.
The Crime Branch has not been able to make much progress in the case even after a year of investigation other than arresting six persons in connection with one of the cases in the scam.
Officers transferred
Two investigating officers were transferred while the case was being investigated. Besides, the Crime Branch has not been able to get enough information from the Information Kerala Mission (IKM) that developed the ‘Sanchaya’ software which was misused to carry out the scam.
The scam came to light in June last year. The login IDs and passwords of Corporation officials were used to access the Sanchaya software and allot building numbers to around 200 unauthorised buildings in the city.
The case was initially investigated by the Kozhikode Town Police and was later transferred to the Crime Branch.
The five Corporation officials who were suspended in connection with the case were later reinstated as they were found to be ‘scapegoats’. Meanwhile, a few Corporation officials, former officials and middlemen were arrested by the Crime Branch.
However, the investigation did not make any headway as the Crime Branch faced hurdles in accessing information from IKM.
The opposition United Democratic Front in the Kozhikode Corporation Council had earlier demanded that the case be investigated under the Vigilance Court while the BJP had demanded a Vigilance investigation. However, District Congress Committee president K. Praveen Kumar alleged that the transfer of the case to the Vigilance was part of a conspiracy to delay the investigation.
