KOTTAYAM: The transfer of the investigating officer who filed the charge sheet in the Rs 300-crore nursing recruitment case against Uthup Varghese at the trial stage has raised many an eyebrow. CBI inspector Tahir Abbas has been transferred to Chennai after he filed the charge-sheet in the CBI court in Ernakulam. It led to the unearthing of the fraudulent dealings of Mr Varghese, including hawala transactions using the name of farmers from the Puthuppally village service cooperative bank. The charge-sheet had termed him as a 'criminal having international underworld connections'.
"The transfer is intended to weaken the trial since he had all the details of the case," claimed a source. "His political, as well as international connections, are explicit." Though the Interpol had taken him into custody in December 2015 from Abu Dhabi, he was released despite a red corner notice against him. The Enforcement Directorate had also booked him, besides the income tax department, on the complaints from nursing job aspirants.
They filed the charge-sheet even before he was taken into custody as he was unavailable here. The CBI on March 27 took him into custody from Cochin International Airport, and he has completed 73 days in remand. The CBI may update the charge-sheet on the basis of their interrogation. He is also accused of an attempted murder of a Puthupally native.
