In a new twist to Kerala’s infamous bar bribery scam, the Congress-led UDF Government on Friday ordered a probe by the Crime Branch of the State police against Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) R Sukesan who had investigated the scandal which has pushed the Government into a deep crisis.
Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala gave his nod for the probe on the basis of a report submitted by Additional DGP N Shankar Reddy, Director of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) which said that Sukesan might have entered into a conspiracy with whistleblower Biju Ramesh to implicate Ministers in the bar bribery scam.
As per the allegation, a CD containing voice recordings which Biju had submitted along with some other statements regarding the scam to a Magistrate had also contained talks between him and Sukesan. The Vigilance Director’s report to the Home Minister said a conspiracy could be suspected on the basis of these discussions.
‘It should be suspected that this probe is part of a conspiracy between the Vigilance Director and the office of Home Minister Chennithala (head of the Congress’s ‘I’ group),” said Biju Ramesh. “It is also part of a conspiracy to trap me in a criminal case after
I disclosed the names of more Ministers
(of the ‘I’ group) who had taken bribe,” he added.
Biju had first accused KeralaCongress (M) chairman KM Mani of taking `1-crore bribe from bar owners. Mani resigned as Finance minister on November 10. Sukesan, who investigated the charge against Mani, said in his factual report that there were evidences to prosecute him but in the report of a further probe he exonerated him.
The whistleblower, who is also the working president of the Kerala bar Hotels’ Association, later alleged that Excise Minister K Babu, close confidant of Chief Minister Chandy, had taken `10 crore from bar owners. Babu resigned on January 23 following an adverse court order over this but withdrew his resignation a week later at the insistence of the Chief Minister.
As per the latest disclosures by Biju Ramesh, Home Minister Chennithala had taken `2 crore from the bar owners when he was the State Congress president and Health Minister VS
Sivakumar, belonging to the Congress’s ‘I’ group, had accepted `25 lakh from them. It is said that it is this charge which had
allegedly irked the Vigilance and the Home Department.
legal experts point out that the Vigilance and the Government had till now been arguing that the CD and its contents could not be taken as evidences and the Vigilance itself had got legal advice to this effect. The irony, according to them, is that it is the recordings on the same CD which have formed the basis of the probe against Sukesan.
It is said that the voice recordings on the CD Biju had given to the Magistrate had shown that he and Sukesan had been acquaintances for a long time. It is alleged that Sukesan had asked Biju to raise allegations of bribery against four Ministers. Sukesan is also accused of prompting Biju Ramesh to raise this allegation through the media.
“They have been trying very hard to trap me in a criminal case. I can’t understand the logic of basing their case on a particular section – which they say there is – of recordings on the CD when they are not prepared to accept the remaining part. I challenge them to release the contents of the CD through the media,” Biju said.