Kerala: Youth Congress State Secretary accused of extorting money with fake Health Dept appointment letters

The Kerala Youth Congress secretary was arrested the other day following complaints that he extorted money and produced fake appointment orders in the name of the Health Department. The Cantonment police are further investigating the scam.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Cantonment Police on Tuesday (Dec 6) arrested the Youth Congress State Secretary after complaints were raised of extorting money by giving fake appointment orders in the pretext of the health department. As many as five people approached the police to complain about extorting money. An Aranmula resident was duped by Rs 1.5 lakh in the scam. The police found out that the scam was led by Aravindan, a native of  Pathanamthitta's Nilakkal and State Secretary of the Youth Congress.

The police filed a case based on the order of the Health Department director. The Youth Congress leader who was arrested after protesting against corruption has now been detained by the police in the fraud case. 

An appointment order produced in the health department's name was sent over WhatsApp to the director of the department. After that, a complaint was filed to start an investigation.

A fake appointment order claiming a post at Kottayam District Hospital as receptionist was produced for a Pathanamthitta woman.  The youth congressman's role came out when the Cantonment police took the woman's statement. The victim of the fraud gave a statement to the police that Aravind handed over the appointment order and in return, she gave Rs 50000 in Kozhancherry. The order directed her to join the work in January. Aravind has also revealed some other participants in the scam during the interrogation. He was elected as the state secretary in the recent Youth Congress elections. After being elected as the state secretary, he paid for newspaper advertisements and placed the flux. Police said that the extorted money was used for this purpose.