Palarivattom flyover: Ebrahim Kunju questioned by vigilance

Ebrahim Kunju
Former PWD minister Ebrahim Kunju and Palarivattom flyover.

Thiruvananthapuram/Kochi: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau interrogated former Public Works Department (PWD) minister Ebrahim Kunju over the Palarivattom flyover scam on Saturday.

The vigilance team, led by DySP Syam Kumar, questioned Ebrahim Kunju at the Poojapura office.

The irregularities in the Palarivattom flyover construction was brought to light a few months ago.

The vigilance will find out whether he released the advance amount of Rs 8.25 crores to the flyover builder under the recommendation of Ebrahim Kunju. He might be added to the list of accused after the interrogation on Saturday.

The former minister was also questioned in connection with the case last September .

Former Public Works Secretary TO Sooraj, former Kitco MD Sumit Goyal, RBDCK company GM P D Thankachan have been arrested in connection with the case earlier.

Last year Sooraj, the fourth accused in the case, had raised charges against Ebrahim Kunju in the Vigilance court.

Implicating the former minister Sooraj stated the order to release the advance amount without interest to RDS Projects was issued by the then PWD minister Ebrahim Kunju after Mohammed Hanish, the MD of the Roads and Bridges Development Corporation of Kerala (RBDCK), had made a recommendation in this regard.

RDS Projects was the flyover builder and Hanish's RBDCK was the agency implementing the project.

The Palarivattom flyover was inaugurated on October 12, 2016. The flaws in the flyover were detected in July 2017 and the facility was closed for traffic on May 1, 2019 owing to safety concerns.

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