The noose seems to be tightening around Kerala Finance Minister KM Mani facing the allegation of taking Rs1 crore as bribe from bar owners with the Vigilance team probing the charge reportedly receiving more crucial evidences against him even as the enquiry against Excise Minister K Babu, accused of taking Rs10 crore as bribe from bar owners, is to start on Monday.
The Vigilance team investigating the charge against Mani will once again record the statements of the bar owners who had allegedly handed over the money to him at his official residence, on the basis of the new evidences. They will also question the police guards who were on duty at Mani’s residence at the time of the alleged payment of the bribe. The Vigilance move is in the context of the finding that the driver of bar owner Biju Ramesh, who had accused Mani of taking the bribe, and D Rajkumar Unni, president of the Kerala Bar Hotels’ Association, could have reached Mani’s residence on April 2, 2014, the day the bribe was allegedly paid to the Minister.
According to Biju Ramesh, Unni and other office-bearers of the association had taken Rs35 lakh, third installment towards the Rs1-crore bribe, to Mani’s residence. His driver had confirmed this to the Vigilance team and had said that the money had indeed been handed over to the Minister. Superintendent of Police R Sukesan, heading the probe team, has reportedly asked four bar owners including Unni to appear for questioning on Monday. Unni and others had not supported Biju’s claim in statements they had given to the Vigilance earlier.
The Vigilance has found that the mobile phones of Unni, Biju’s driver and Mani were under the same switching tower at the time of the alleged payment of bribe to the Minister. Though this could not be considered as conclusive evidence, sources said it could serve as a supporting factor for other circumstantial evidences. Sources said that the Vigilance team had reached the final stages of the investigation against Mani. The team is questioning the bar owners again as part of the final procedures. They have also decided to question Mani at a time and place of his choice.
The Vigilance had in December last registered an FIR naming Mani as the accused on the basis of the findings of a “quick verification” of the allegation leveled by Biju Ramesh. He had on October 31 accused Mani of demanding Rs5 crore from bar owners and taking Rs1 crore of it promising to help them in getting the licences renewed for their closed bars.
Meanwhile, the Vigilance will start its preliminary probe against Excise Minister Babu, a staunch loyalist of the CM, in the bar briery scam on Monday. Babu is facing the charge of taking Rs10 crore as bribe from bar owners for lowering the bar licence fee to Rs23 lakh from Rs30 lakh to which it was proposed to be raised from the Rs22 lakh.