Deputy General Manager of IOC arrested for taking Rs 2 lakh bribe
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Thiruvananthapuram: According to officials, a Deputy General Manager of the Indian Oil Corporation was arrested for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs 2 lakh from a gas agency owner.
Alex Mathew, the Deputy General Manager at Indian Oil Corporation's Ernakulam office, was caught red-handed by the Vigilance Department's Special Investigation Unit-1 while accepting a bribe at a complainant's residence in Kuravankonam on Saturday around 7:30 pm.
According to the Vigilance Department, Alex Mathew had allegedly demanded Rs 10 lakh from the complainant to prevent the transfer of customer connections from his wife's IOC-licensed gas agency to other agencies.
When the complainant refused to pay the bribe, Alex Mathew allegedly retaliated by transferring 1,200 customer connections from the complainant's gas agency to other agencies, according to the Vigilance Department.
The accused, Alex Mathew, allegedly warned the complainant that more customer connections would be transferred to other agencies if the bribe of Rs 10 lakh was not paid, and he demanded that the payment be made during his visit to Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
Following the threat, the gas agency owner filed a complaint with the Vigilance Department, which subsequently laid a trap and caught Alex Mathew red-handed while he was accepting the bribe.
The accused will be produced before a vigilance court, it added.
(inputs from PTI)