In a development that could influence the State's politics in a big way, a Vigilance court in Kerala on Saturday ordered further investigation into the infamous bar bribery scandal, involving former Finance Minister KM Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), which had recently severed its three-decade-long alliance with the Congress-led UDF.
The Special Vigilance Court, Thiruvananthapuram ordered further probe into the scam on the basis of a petition filed by Superintendent of Police (Vigilance) R Sukesan, who had investigated the case earlier. Sukesan sought orders for further probe, saying former Vigilance Director N Shanker Reddy had derailed the probe by interfering in it.
The court order for fresh probe into the charge that Mani had taken Rs 1 crore as bribe from bar owners when he was Finance and law Minister in the former UDF Government, has come at a time when the Congress was trying to woo the KC(M) back into the UDF and the CPI(M)-led lDF and the BJP-headed NDA were thinking of having some kind of alliance with it.
Mani, who had celebrated his golden jubilee as a legislator last year, was forced to resign as Finance Minister in the then UDF Government last November, following an adverse observation from the High Court over the bar bribery case. His party severed ties with the UDF on August 7, alleging that the scandal was the result of a conspiracy hatched by some Congress leaders.
Following the allegation leveled by Biju Ramesh, a bar owner, on October 31, 2014, that Mani had taken Rs 1 crore by promising to help bar owners to get licences renewed for their establishments closed down due to lack of facilities, the Vigilance had held a quick verification and came to the conclusion that a case could be registered against the KC(M) chairman.
Sukesan, who was given the charge of the probe against Mani by then Vigilance Director Vinson M Paul, had submitted two reports on the matter. While the first report said Mani could be named accused, the second exonerated him. In the petition, Sukesan said that the exoneration of Mani in the second report was due to the pressure exerted by then Vigilance chief Reddy.
The Vigilance SP said in the petition that he could not take the probe to its logical conclusion as Reddy had rejected the evidences he had found against Mani. He was forced to make changes in his report, which led to the KC(M) chairman's exoneratio, Sukesan said in the petition.
He also alleged that his second factual report, which recommended filing of chargesheet against Mani was rejected by Reddy. Observers and police officials said that a situation where a Vigilance official approached the court with a petition stating that his superior officer had sabotaged his report was unprecedented in Kerala's history.