Biju affirms charges against Mani

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Reiterating that he stood by the graft charges raised against finance minister K M Mani, Biju Ramesh, working president of Bar Hotel Owners' Association, said the intention was to expose the "conduct of a public functionary''. Ramesh said he was neither ready to withdraw the allegation nor issue a public apology.
In his reply to a Rs 10-crore legal notice slapped by Mani, Ramesh repeated that a minister had demanded Rs 5 crore as bribe for renewing bar licences and had accepted Rs 1 crore as the first instalment.
Ramesh's lawyer C P Udayabhanu said his client didn't make "any false or libellous statement but stated the truth for the public good''.
"The conduct of your client who is a public functionary has to be made known to the public and there is nothing defamatory and has no imputation against him,'' he said.
Maintaining that Ramesh didn't want to divulge more details as the case is under a high court monitored vigilance probe, the reply said he was prepared to prove the same at the appropriate place and time.