A probe by the Kerala Vigilance has concluded that no case can be registered against Congress’s Excise Minister K Babu in the sensational bar bribery case as there is no evidence. Babu has been accused of taking Rs10 crore as bribe from the State’s bar owners. The Vigilance had last week received legal advice to avoid filing chargesheet against Finance Minister KM Mani of the Kerala Congress (M), who was charged with taking Rs1-crore bribe from bar owners.
As per the quick verification report Vigilance’s Superintendent of Police (Ernakulam Range) KM Antony has submitted to Director Vinson M Paul, there are no circumstantial evidences or witness statements which will justify filing of an FIR against Babu, a confidant of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, on the basis of the allegation levelled by whistleblower Biju Ramesh.
“The Vigilance is acting under political pressure. I will approach the High Court,” said Biju Ramesh, working president of the Kerala Bar Hotels’ Association. Coming in the middle of campaigning for the crucial June 27 Assembly by-election in Aruvikkara, the Vigilance’s exoneration of Babu will be a big face-saver for the Congress and the ruling UDF it leads.
The Vigilance had started a preliminary inquiry against Babu after Biju Ramesh had in a statement he filed on March 30 before a Magistrate under Section 164 of the CrPC accused Babu of taking Rs10 crore as bribe from the bar owners for lowering bar licence fee to Rs23 lakh from Rs30 lakh to which it was hiked from the earlier Rs22 lakh.
The Bar owner had claimed that he himself had handed over Rs50 lakh, part of the Rs10-crore bribe, to Babu at his office in the State Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. He had said that he and a friend, Razeef, were witnesses to Babu’s aide putting the money they gave to him in his car at the Secretariat premises.
After being quizzed by the Vigilance, Razeef had expressed willingness to undergo the polygraph procedure to prove that he was telling the truth. However, the Vigilance did not want this to happen. In the report to the Vigilance Director, the investigating officer said that an FIR could not be filed against Babu merely on the basis of the statements of Biju and Razeef.
legal experts said the Vigilance would find it difficult to justify its stand on the allegation against Babu if the issue comes up in the court. Observers view the Vigilance’s exoneration of Babu as a step to save the Congress from a big embarrassment in the campaigning for the Aruvikkara by-election. It is up to the Vigilance Director to take a final decision on the matter.
“I myself have given more evidences to the Vigilance in the case involving Babu than what I had given them in the Mani affair. It is certain that the case is being sabotaged by the political leadership. The truth will come out if an agency like the CBI takes up the investigation,” said Biju Ramesh. Babu said he would respond to the development on Thursday.
last week, the Vigilance’s legal advisor had instructed the agency against filing a chargesheet against Finance Minister Mani. The agency had held a proper probe after a “quick verification” found prima facie evidence against Mani over the charge made by Biju Ramesh that he had asked for Rs 5 crore as bribe and had taken Rs 1 crore of it from the bar owners.
During the probe, the Vigilance had learned that money could have been paid to Mani. It had found corroborating evidence for the statement of Biju’s driver Ambili that he had taken some association office-bearers to Mani’s official residence to hand over money to him. A polygraph test on Ambili had suggested that he was not lying.
“Even after all that, the Vigilance is said to be planning to exonerate Mani. In Babu’s case, the agency is trying to exonerate him even before a proper investigation. In short, both the bar bribery cases have collapsed for all practical purposes. The only way to try to find the truth in these cases is to approach the court,” said a senior lawyer of the Kerala High Court.