Kerala Bar Hotel Owners Association Working President Biju RameshThiruvananthapuram: A forensic examination has found that the recorded phone conversation submitted by Kerala State Bar Hotel Owners Association Working President Biju Ramesh in connection with the bar bribery scam was tampered. The analysis also found that the voice record was edited and hence not authentic. The forensic report has thus rendered the most crucial evidence in deciding the fate of the case worthless.
The vigilance submitted the report of the forensic examination before the Special vigilance court, Thiruvananthapuram. The examination was conducted in Gujarat.
With the forensic finding, the investigators are staring a dead end in one of the most sensational political scams in the history of Kerala. Former vigilance director Jacob Thomas asked to go for a detailed forensic examination of the evidence already in its custody, as the investigation team failed to garner enough concrete evidences to fortify the case against Kerala Congress (M) supremo K.M. Mani, who was also the finance minister in the previous UDF government. Following this, the investigators zeroed in on the audio clip of the phone conversation submitted by Biju Ramesh in which the reference of the bribe was mentioned. And the vigilance also requested the court to allow time to re-examine the pieces of evidence already collected. The court allowed three weeks to the vigilance to submit its report.
Even after the Left government came to power in last May, the vigilance had not been able to produce enough evidence before the court to prove corruption charges in the bar bribery scam. The scam, during the tenure of the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government, had given great political mileage to the LDF in the last assembly elections.
But closely after this, R. Sukeshan, Vigilance SP who was in charge of the investigation into the scam, filed a petition before the court with a startling revelation that he had been under severe pressure to sabotage the case. Taking this allegation at face value, vigilance court at Thiruvananthapuram ordered further probe into the case.
The bar bribery scam hit the Congress-led UDF government hard in 2014 when Biju Ramesh alleged that the Bar Hotel Owners Association had paid bribe of Rs.1crore to K.M. Mani, the then finance minister to facilitate the re-opening of the liquor bars that were closed down following the new liquor policy of the government. Mani, one of the senior most members of the UDF ministry, had to quit following an adverse comment from the High Court in connection with the case. This led to a psychological estrangement between the Congress and the Kerala Congress (M), one of the most trusted partners of the UDF. Eventually, the Kerala Congress (M) walked out of the UDF camp in August last year. The party even alleged that the scam was the mind work of some Congress leaders who conspired against Mani.
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