Plea in Kerala High Court seeks probe into bribery allegations against CM Pinarayi Vijayan, daughter

A revision petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court challenging a vigilance court's refusal to order an investigation into allegations of bribery and misuse of power by high-ranking public officials in Kerala, including State Chief Minister (CM) Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter, Veena Thaikandiyilin [Gireesh Babu v State of Kerala & Anr.]..The allegations of corruption against these officials were made in connection with the mining and other business interests of Cochin Mineral and Rutile Ltd. (CMRL). On August 26, the Special Judge (Vigilance) in Muvattupuzha rejected the plea for a probe into the allegations on finding that there was no prima facie case made out against the accused officials. The vigilance court opined that the petitioner, Gireesh Babu, had only raised general allegations without sufficient material facts to back up his claims.Babu has now approached the High Court with a revision petition challenging this vigilance court order..In his revision petition, filed through advocate BA Aloor, Babu has re-asserted that all the accused persons misused their official position and also caused a loss in public revenue. A strong prima facie case has been made out on this aspect, contrary to the vigilance court's findings, Babu submitted. “The accused in the complaint have misused their official capacity and powers in order to get illegal gratification and in exchange for monitory advantages, thereby the actions of all accused persons in the complaint comes within the purview under Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988,” the petition stated further.Babu has contended that the vigilance court rejected his complaint without considering the facts and circumstances of the case. Therefore, he has now urged the Kerala High Court to set aside the vigilance court order and to direct a probe by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau against the accused persons, which include Chief Minister Vijayan and his daughter. .The initial petition before the vigilance court was filed by Babu in the wake of an Income Tax report that stated that an "illegal payment" of ₹1.72 crores was made by CMRL to Exalogic Solutions Private Limited, an IT firm owned by the daughter of the CM, Veena.He alleged that Veena received the money as consideration from CMRL to grant it an undue advantage.It was further alleged that high-ranking public officials including the CM, the Leader of Opposition and Congress leader, Ramesh Chennithala, and other politicians such as Kunjali Kutty, VK Ibrahim Kunju, and A Govindan also received bribes from CMRL.All of these persons were arraigned as accused in Babu's petition..In the complaint, Babu had also highlighted that the findings of the Interim Board for Settlement-II, New Delhi indicated that offenses under the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988 were committed by the accused persons.Referring to the alleged payment of ₹1.72 crore by CMRL to Exalogic Solution, Babu further recounted that Settlement Board-II termed this transaction as a bogus transaction as no service was provided by Veena's firm for CMRL.