Thiruvananthapuram: The bribery case that forced K.M. Mani to quit as Finance Minister turned even muddier with the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau claiming that the investigating officer conspired with the bar owner who raised the allegation against Mani. VACB director N. Sankar Reddy has recommended a Crime Branch probe against Superintendent of Police R. Sukesan as he was found to have conspired against the ministers in the case.
Reddy’s report, submitted to Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala two days ago, is based on a conversation accuser Biju Ramesh has had with his fellow bar owners in Kochi on December 31, 2014. It says that Sukesan compelled Ramesh to raise allegations against the other ministers.
The conversation among bar owners at a meeting of their association’s core committee, recorded in a CD, memory card and mobile phone, was produced by Ramesh before a magistrate looking into the case against Mani. The memory card had four files. A sound clip running three hours and five minutes was found to have been deleted. The other clips contained Ramesh’s conversation about Sukesan to other bar owners.
Reddy wrote in his report that Sukesan compelled Ramesh to say four more ministers were involved in the bribery case. “The SP told me that mediapersons are waiting outside - They care calling me. I can’t say anything. So you speak to them. When I asked him what to say he told me to say that there are four more involved. I said so,” the report quoted Ramesh as saying.
Reddy said the role of each member of the investigating team, especially Sukesan, had to be investigated. This is a conspiracy against the ministers. This raises doubts on Sukesan’s honesty and impartiality, he wrote in his report.
“I knew Sukesan from the days when he was a sub inspector,” the report quoted Ramesh as saying. “He has added everyone in the association as witnesses. Kannan and Saju Dominic are also witnesses. Indu was told that turning hostile was ground enough to be made an accused. ‘Yamaha’ Surendran was told he will be made an accused. He had turned hostile. They have pointed out the contradictions in his statements. The SP said they will grill him on it. They have collected details of the location of his mobile phone.
“They have also collected Ambili’s mobile tower location at East Fort as per the time he gave in his testimony. The SP asked me if I had any political commitment or any agreement with the association. He said let us tighten the case otherwise. When I asked how, he told me to give testimonies,” Ramesh was quoted as saying at the Kerala Bar Hotel Owners’ Association meeting.
The VACB director’s report said that the conversation was proof enough that Ramesh and Sukesan knew each other before the case. He said that the officer had conspired or reached an agreement with the accuser to create evidence in the case.
“Now they are only recording the testimonies. You will not be required to sign on anything,” Ramesh further told the other bar owners. “You will have to sign when the case is registered. The testimonies are recorded in the court the second time. If you say you do not know anything, how could you be made witnesses? The Vigilance cannot do anything then. The case can be wound up in any way. They have enough material to charge the accused. They do not have to probe it anymore. Nothing will happen if four people withdraw as the Chief Minister says,” Ramesh said.
Another bar owner is heard interrupting: “Biju, let them do whatever they want.”
The VACB director pointed out that the conversation reveals that the investigating officer was sure to submit a charge sheet in the case.
“Sukesan is against the government and he fears Jacob Thomas more than Vinson Paul,” the VACB director said in his report, pointing out that he had urged the bar owners to give strong statements.
The report also quoted Ramesh as saying, “The SP said there is one more case related to Unni. He could detain him after making him an accused. The SP is against the government. You decide if you want to be made a witness or an accused.”
The CD, however, does not contain any conversation made by Sukesan.