Bribery case: CBI court issues summons to ITDC officials

The Ernakulam CBI Special Court has issued summons to two India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) officials, the accused in a bribery case, and directed them to be appear before the court on Friday.

Special Judge P Sasidharan issued the summons after accepting the chargesheets filed by the CBI.

The court also issued summons to V P Ajith Kumar, managing director, Croniche Hospitality (P) Ltd, Kottakkal, V M Radhakrishnan alias Chakku Radhakrishnan and Nithin Radhakrishnan of Soorya Hotels.

Meanwhile, the CBI has filed three more chargesheets against two officials of the ITDC and the managing directors of three luxury hotels for bribing the officials to grant  three-star status to the hotel. With this, a total of eight chargesheets have been filed. The two officials are the main accused in each of the cases. The other accused as per the  three chargesheets are James Joseph (managing partner of Lyndas Residency, Koothuparamba),K K Mohandas (managing director of K K Leisure Tourism International Private Ltd, Peravoor, in Kannur), and N K Nigeesh of Vintage Residency, Koothuparamba.

According to the CBI, James Joseph handed over `55,000 for getting a three-star classification and K K Mohandas offered `40,000, wrist watches and perfumes, while N K Nigeesh handed over `75,000 to the officials.

An inspection was conducted by the Hotel and Restaurant Approval and Classification Committee (HACC) of the ITDC. The first accused, Velmurugan, was in the inspection team. The approval was granted to the hotels on the same day. However, the two officials demanded a bribe for the speeding up of the issuance of the certificate. The offences registered against the accused are criminal conspiracy under Section 120B of the IPC and as per the Prevention of Corruption Act.