Kerala's battered Finance Minister KM Mani on Wednesday filed a defamation suit against Biju Ramesh, working president of the Kerala Bar Hotels' Association, who had five months ago 'disclosed' that the Minister had demanded Rs5 crore from bar owners as bribe promising help for renewing licences of their closed bars and had taken Rs1 crore of it.
In the case filed in a Thiruvananthapuram court through a High Court lawyer, Mani, accused in the Vigilance case pertaining to the bribery, demanded Rs10 crore as compensation from Biju alleging that his intentions in leveling the charges against him were defamation and character assassination. The bar owner had charged Mani with taking bribe on October 31 last year.
Mani had earlier issued two legal notices to Biju asking him to apologise by withdrawing the allegation but the bar owner refused to do this saying that he had evidences to support the charges. On Tuesday, Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan had taunted Mani in the State Assembly for not suing Biju though he was repeatedly threatening to do that.
"Mani is parting the curtains and coming out. It is good as far as I am concerned," was the first reaction of Biju to reports on Mani's suit. "It gives me the opportunity to bring out more facts and evidences for the allegations I have made. Therefore, I am welcoming his move," Biju said, adding that he was ready to face any consequences.
The Vigilance and Anti-corruption Bureau had initiated a case against Mani after a quick verification of the allegation Biju had raised. The bar owner had also presented voice records of conversations to the Vigilance to support his allegation but Mani, his party Kerala Congress (M) and the State Government had been refusing to accept them as evidences.
Biju had on Tuesday said that Mani had offered Rs10 crore to him through intermediaries to settle the case and similar allegation was also raised against Jose K Mani MP, the Minister's son. Mani has approached the court in the context of the challenge he is facing from the Opposition which has vowed to stop him from presenting the State Budget on Friday.
Biju's allegation was that Mani had promised to help the bar owners in getting the licences renewed for the 418 bars which were closed down by the Government on March 31, 2014 in the name of lack of required facilities. The Minister had demanded Rs 5 crore for this and Rs 1 crore was paid to him in two installments, he said.
However, they decided not to pay the remaining Rs 4 crore when the licences for the 418 bars were not renewed and the Government ordered the closure of the remaining 312 bars also as part of the new liquor policy it announced on August 22 last envisaging total liquor ban in the State in the next ten years.
Biju Ramesh's allegation had created discomfort in Bar Hotels' Association with its president D Rajkumar Unni and most other office-bearers refusing to give evidences to the Vigilance against Mani as he had desired. Annoyed by this, Biju had the other day held a meeting of the owners of the 418 bars which had now been granted beer-and-wine parlour licences.
Unni had questioned Biju's right to convene a meeting of the bar owners but Biju retorted by saying that Unni was afraid of calling a general body meeting. Sources in the association expressed the apprehension that it might undergo a split soon.