They said they had persuasive evidence that persons with access to the Land Revenue Commissioner’s office in Thiruvananthapuram were part of the illegal bargain. Officers said the forgery of an order signed by the Land Revenue Commissioner (LRC) and also that of the local RDO did not, on the face of it, appear to be a one-off crime. The seals embossed on the documents in question appeared to bear the hallmark of original Revenue Department stamps. The VACB planned to interview officers at the LRC and collect samples of seals and other authentication devices used by them. The possibility of similar copy-cat violations of the Kerala Conservation of Paddy Land and Wetland Act, 2008, had prompted Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to order the anti-corruption inquiry.

Source: The Hindu May 10, 2019 14:15 UTC