Kerala: KC (M) asks govt to book K Babu in bribery scam
The Kerala Congress (M), a leading ally of Congress in the ruling United Democratic Front, on Wednesday mounted pressure on the government to register a vigilance case against three Congress ministers, including K Babu, who had allegedly taken bribe from bar hotel owners.
Bar hotel association working president Biju Ramesh had given a statement before a magistrate court that Excise Minister K Babu had taken bribe in the bar scandal. Besides, Ramesh also furnished audio and video CDs of the conversations among bar owners which showed that they were discussing about the money paid to Congress ministers Ramesh Chennithala, V S Sivakumar and K Babu.
Subsequently, Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan had rushed a letter to the Director of Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB), demanding that an FIR should be registered against Babu. However, the vigilance rejected the Opposition demand, saying that the conversations in the CDs were “vague and insufficient” for registering a case.
Soon after the bar owners had raised the bribery charges against Finance Minister K M Mani, the Opposition leader had written to the vigilance, which later paved way for building up a case against Mani.
KC (M) senior leader Antony Raju said his party could not accept the double-standard of the government in this regard. “The approach of the vigilance that it could not register FIR against Congress ministers could not be accepted. Why the rule applied to Mani could not be made applicable to others,” asked Raju.
He said Home Minister Chennithala should answer to the Vigilance’s unfair approach, which questions its own credibility.
Source:: Indian Express
