Kochi, April 17 (IANS): A court in Kerala on Friday rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Protector of Emigrants (PoE) L. Adolfus in an alleged scam pertaining to recruitment of nurses to Kuwait, said a CBI source.

Following the rejection of the anticipatory bail plea, Adolfus can be arrested, the source added.

The PoE had applied for anticipatory bail at the Ernakulam Sessions Court.

However, on Friday, Additional District and Sessions Judge B. Kalam Pasha, after going through the case diary, expressed shock over its contents and denied anticipatory bail to the PoE.

The CBI had taken up this case last month after it came to light following an Income Tax raid at a private recruitment agency based here that it was collecting huge sums as recruitment fees from nurses selected for employment in Kuwait.

But things turned for the worse for the top central government employee after a nurse who was selected for the job and paid the fees asked by the recruitment agency decided not to go to Kuwait, but was refused the refund.

She then approached the PoE but failed to get the desired help and it was around this time that the IT raid took place and huge sums of unaccounted money were found in the recruitment agency's office.

Following media reports, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) took up the case.

"We registered the case on the 30th of last month and today (Friday) with the bail of the PoE being refused, he can be arrested," said the CBI source who did not wish to be identified.

The owner of the Kochi-based recruitment agency is based in the Middle East and, despite repeated requests from the CBI to make himself available before them, is yet to come.