Kallada irrigation project graft: Kerala HC upholds conviction of two accused

Kochi: High court has upheld the conviction of two accused — T O Abraham of Thiruvalla, a contractor with the Kallada irrigation project and late K K Philip of Aluva, who was the superintending engineer of the project — by the vigilance special court, Thiruvananthapuram, in a case alleging the misappropriation of Rs 34.78 lakh in the construction of the Kulasekharapuram distributary under the project.The bench of Justice A Badharudeen, while upholding the sentence imposed by the trial court on Abraham — three years' imprisonment and a fine of Rs 17 lakh — abated the substantive sentence imposed on Philip, as he is no more. However, the court confined his sentence to the realisation of the fine amount from the assets, if any, inherited by his legal heirs. The court was considering the appeals filed by Abraham and Philip challenging their conviction and sentences.The prosecution case was that Philip, while serving as superintending engineer of the Kallada irrigation project at its Kottarakkara circle office during the period 1990-91, allegedly conspired with contractor Abraham and misappropriated Rs 34.78 lakh from the funds allocated for the construction of the Kulasekharapuram distributary. It was stated that the original estimate for the construction was Rs 24.45 lakh and that, as per the agreement, the work was to be completed within nine months. However, the work was not completed within the stipulated time, and the accused allegedly conspired to grant an additional amount of Rs 34.78 lakh to the contractor, with the support of other officials, leading to the conviction of both accused.During pendency of the appeal, Philip died, and his legal heirs were accordingly impleaded in the case. The single bench, while considering the appeals, observed that the trial court had properly appreciated the evidence and rightly arrived at the conviction and sentence. Accordingly, the bench upheld the sentence imposed on Abraham and confined the sentence imposed on Philip, who died during the pendency of the appeal, to the extent of the realisation of the fine amount from his legal heirs. HC further directed the special judge to proceed with the same without fail.