KOCHI: Bizarre coincidences do not just happen in movies. Uthup Varghese, the accused in the nursing recruitment scam, and the officer, who first raided Uthup’s office two years back, will vouch for that.
An unlikely reunion recently brought them in the same room at the CBI office. The officer Dinesh K K, who was caught red-handed while accepting bribe the other day, is now lodged in the Ernakulam Sub Jail, where Uthup is also on remand!
In March-2015, Dinesh, the inspector with the Income Tax Investigation Unit, was part of the team which raided Uthup’s Al-Zarafa Travels and Manpower Consultants office in Kochi, following scam allegations against the latter. Dinesh was also a part of the investigation conducted by the Income Tax Department against Uthup and his agency.
Uthup was taken into CBI’s custody on March 30 after he was arrested while arriving at the Nedumbassery airport and brought to the CBI office in the early hours of Thursday. He was produced before the court, which granted the CBI two-day custody of Uthup.
Dinesh, who was detained for accepting bribe was brought to the CBI office on Friday night, where he had to spend a night with Uthup. Both Uthup and Dinesh were then produced together before the CBI Court on Saturday. Uthup was remanded and sent to the Ernakulam Sub Jail till March 15, while Dinesh was remanded till Monday.
“It is a coincidence that both the accused fell into our net at the same time. Rarely do such incidents happen, in which the investigating officer who probed a case against an accused, finds himself sharing jail time with the accused,” said a CBI officer.
The CBI had registered a case and launched a probe against Uthup following investigations by the Income Tax Department.
Though Uthup and Dinesh never met before, they got acquainted while in CBI’s custody. Uthup was visibly happy to witness the plight of the man who was responsible for his fall.
Talk about keeping your enemies closer.