Kasaragod: The state government's Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) arrested the Central University of Kerala's Professor of the Department of Social Work for allegedly accepting bribes from a guest faculty member. Following the judicial remand, Vice Chancellor Prof K C Baiju has suspended Prof Mohan from service with immediate effect.

Prof Mohan A K, who was arrested Wednesday evening, was remanded in judicial custody for 14 days by the Special Vigilance Court in Thalassery on Thursday, said VABC Deputy Superintendent of Police V K Vishwambaran Nair.

According to a statement released by VACB, Prof Mohan allegedly demanded Rs 2 lakh from a guest faculty member to renew the contract that ended in December 2023 and also to admit him to the PhD programme.

The guest teacher, Ramanand Kodoth, contacted the Intelligence wing of the VACB. The complaint was forwarded to Prajeesh Thottathil, VACB's Northern Range Superintendent of Police in Kozhikode. The SP planned the trap for the professor. As the first instalment of the Rs 2 lakh sought, Vigilance gave the complainant Rs 20,000 in cash laced with phenolphthalein powder.

Kodoth gave the money to the professor in his chamber at the Central University of Kerala, said DySP Nair. Soon after, a Vigilance team led by Nair entered his office and found the cash.

The team was accompanied by Revenue Recovery Tahsildar P Shibu and Assistant Planning Officer Riju Mathew.

Prof Mohan was booked under Section 7 of the Prevention of Corruption Act. If found guilty, he faces imprisonment for a term not less than three years and may extend to seven years.

Trumped up charges say colleagues
Two colleagues of Prof Mohan said he was being framed by Kodoth with whom he did not have a good relationship. Kodoth has been a guest faculty in the Department of Social Work for the past five years and his last contract ended on December 4.

Hours before he was arrested, Prof Mohan sent a letter to the Head of the Department of Social Work Dr Nagalingam M and Deputy Registrar V S Pradeep Kumar saying Ramanand Kodoth's tenure had expired and his unauthorised presence in the department was not acceptable, they said.

The colleagues said during the Covid pandemic, Prof Mohan lent Kodoth Rs 3,000 through bank transfer. Around 4.30 pm on Wednesday, January 10, Kodoth came to his office and returned the money, they said. "Prof Mohan told him that he did not want the money but Kodoth insisted and he kept it," said one colleague, who spoke with Prof Mohan after the incident.

Later, when the professor was discussing with his students in his chamber, the Vigilance team entered his office and picked up an envelope from the floor, near the feet of a student, they said. The envelope had money. But the money given to him in hand was also powdered with phenolphthalein, they said.

The colleagues said that Prof Mohan was not the Head of the Department or Dean of the School of Social Sciences anymore and was in no position to influence the hiring of a guest lecturer.

When contacted, DySP Vishwambaran Nair said that he would not comment on what was said in defence of the accused. "We followed the rules and procedure to the T. We were accompanied by two gazetted officers. They saw what happened in the chamber," he said and added that the court rejected his bail application, too.

When contacted, Kodoth said that he initially approached a TV channel to expose the professor for allegedly demanding bribes. "But the reporter advised me to take the proper channel of filing a complaint with the Vigilance. Now, I cannot comment more as it would affect the case," he said.