In a disproportionate assets case, a customs officer and his family have been convicted by a CBI court in Kochi. The Calicut Customs deputy commissioner, P.R. Vijayan, along with his wife and three daughters, were found guilty by CBI Court-Ill, presided over by special judge KK Balakrishnan.
Each of them has been sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment (RI), and they have been directed to pay a fine of Rs 2.5 crore. The court determined that Vijayan, while in his official position, abused his power and acquired assets worth Rs 78.9 lakh, which were disproportionate to his known income.
The majority of these assets were obtained in the names of his wife and daughters, indicating a criminal conspiracy to acquire disproportionate assets. The court also noted that the judgment does not prevent any future action against Vijayan’s son-in-law, who sent approximately Rs 50 lakh from the UAE to India in the name of his wife and her family members.
According to the Designated Court, CBI, Ernakulam (Kerala), the former Deputy Commissioner at Air Cargo Complex, Calicut Airport, Shri P.R. Vijayan, his wife Smt. Vasantha, and daughters Smt. Dhanya, Smt. Divya, and Smt. Navya has been sentenced to two years of rigorous imprisonment and fined a total of Rs. 2.5 crore.
The CBI initiated the case on September 27, 2006, alleging that Shri P.R. Vijayan accumulated assets, both in his own name and in the names of his family members, including his wife and three daughters, that were disproportionate to his known sources of income during the period from July 2003 to July 2005, amounting to Rs. 79,93,859/-.
After the investigation, a charge sheet was filed on June 30, 2008, leading to the conviction of the accused by the Trial Court. It is worth mentioning that two accused were acquitted by the court.
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