Vigilance court orders FIR against minister K Babu

Thrissur: The ruling Congress-led UDF combine in Kerala suffered another major setback on Saturday with the vigilance court in Thrissur directing the vigilance department to register an FIR against the Excise Minister K Babu and conduct a probe in the bar bribery case. The judge has asked the vigilance department to submit a progress report on the probe by February 22.
The court had earlier asked the department to submit a quick verification report (QVR) on the charges that the bar owner Biju Ramesh had given bribe to minister Babu to give sanction for the bar hotels to function in the state.
But today’s order to register FIR and conduct a fresh probe was issued when the vigilance submitted a plea for some more time to file the QVR. The vigilance enquiry commissioner and special judge SS Vasan has made it clear that the new probe should be a court-monitored enquiry as per the section 156 (3) of the CrPC and as per the order pronounced by the Supreme Court in 2008.
The judge has ordered a similar probe against Biju Ramesh also who had made the allegation that the bribe was paid to the minister. The judge made a scathing attack on the vigilance department for the ineffective handling of the probe against the Minister.
The enquiry has been ordered based on a complaint filed by social activist George Vattukulam. As per his complaint Biju Ramesh had alleged Minister Babu had demanded Rs 10 crores as bribe from the bar owners for reopening the bars after the state government had decided to close them down. Biju Ramesh had also stated publicly that the bar owners had paid Rs 50 lakhs as advance to the Minister on October 31 last.
The court asked whether the vigilance department had completed even the preliminary enquiry procedures like verifying the accounts of the person who had allegedly received the bribe. The judge wondered whether the vigilance department was behaving like the mythological warrior Arjuna who has lost Gandeeva (the vital weapon).
The additional legal adviser (ALA) of the vigilance department stated before the court that some of the probe reports had been submitted to the Lok Ayukta which is also considering the same allegations. The judge then sternly asked the ALA whether the vigilance department wanted the vigilance courts to be closed down.
The judge said the QVR could have been completed in ten days if the vigilance department was earnest and committed to carrying out the court’s order. He said the department should maintain the due respect to the court order.
The vigilance had earlier registered an FIR against the former Finance Minister K M Mani when bribe charges were made against him. Mani had to quit finally when High Court made some adverse remarks against him based on the vigilance report.
However, the vigilance department was refusing to file FIR against Babu saying that there was no evidence for this. Now the government will be in a spot with the latest vigilance court order.