KOCHI: In a huge embarrassment to the police department, facing public ire for fines levied in the name of Covid protocol violations, three police officers were found to be have accepted bribes to allow dumping of medical waste from the Kottayam Medical College Hospital beside the national highway at Parambayam near Aluva. Instead of taking action against the contractor who was caught red-handed, the officers settled the matter by allegedly accepting Rs 5,000 from him.
The incident occurred on the night of July 6 when a group of people attempted to dump two truckloads of garbage, mainly biomedical waste from the Kottayam Medical College Hospital, in a land owned by a private company at Parambayam. Though a highway police patrolling team arrived the spot following an alert and found the illegal waste dumping, the police officers allowed them to dump the garbage there and left the spot.
The bribery came to light after the Chengamanad panchayat officials conducted an inquiry based on the CCTV footage from the area. The local body authorities traced the two trucks used to transport the garbage and their owners. Subsequently, the matter was handed over to the Chengamanad police and the people who had received the contract to transport waste was picked up.
On interrogation, they confessed that they gave a bribe of Rs 5000 to the police team, which had arrived on the spot, to allow the dumping of garbage. Later, Aluva MLA Anwar Sadath took the issue up and lodged a complaint with Ernakulam Rural SP K Karthick demanding action against the police officers concerned.
Subsequently, Grade SI Rasheed has been placed under suspension while civil police officers Madhu and Aravind have been transferred to the Armed Reserve Police camp. “As the illegal dumping of medical waste during the pandemic is hazardous to life and environment, the Ernakulam Range DIG initiated action against the police officers after conducting a department-level inquiry,” said Anwar Sadath.
Earlier, the residents living near the road had alerted the panchayat authorities after they noticed garbage being dumped at night. The issue was brought to the attention of the government by the MLA by raising the matter in the assembly during the last session.