മുൻ പിഡബ്ല്യുഡി സെക്രട്ടറി ഗ്യാനേഷ് കുമാറിന്റെ കാലത്തെ ക്രമക്കേടുകളെക്കുറിച്ച് വിജിലൻസ് അന്വേഷണത്തിന് ആഭ്യന്തരമന്ത്രി രമേശ് ചെന്നിത്തല ഉത്തരവിട്ടു. 2006-ൽ മലേഷ്യൻ എൻജിനീയർ ലീ സീ ബീൻ ആത്മഹത്യ ചെയ്ത സംഭവത്തിൽ ഗ്യാനേഷ് കുമാറിന് പങ്കുണ്ടെന്ന ആരോപണത്തെത്തുടർന്നാണ് നടപടി. നേരത്തെയുള്ള അന്വേഷണം അട്ടിമറിക്കപ്പെട്ടെന്ന പരാതിയിലാണ് ഇപ്പോൾ പുതിയ അന്വേഷണം നടക്കുന്നത്.
Keralam Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has ordered a Vigilance investigation into a case relating to allegations of irregularities during current Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's tenure as the state's Public Works Department Secretary.
Besides allegations of corruption, the wider matter also pertains to the 2006 suicide of Malaysian civil engineer Lee See Been, who was associated with the Indo-Malaysian Joint Venture PATI-BEL.
The consortium was involved in the upgrade of MC Road – a 240-kilometre-long state highway connecting Thiruvananthapuram to Angamaly – under the Keralam State Transport Project (KSTP).
Chennithala said a note left behind by Been, who was the chief project manager for PATI-BEL, had mentioned Kumar, who was serving with the Keralam PWD at the time.
The investigation is being initiated following allegations that the original enquiry was deliberately derailed. It was ordered on the basis of a complaint moved by Congress leader Malayankeezhu Venugopal.
The development comes amid widespread protests by the Congress, other opposition parties and youth-led movement Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) against Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter rolls across India.
KUMAR USED HIS INFLUENCE: COMPLAINANT
Chennithala has directly instructed the Director of Keralam's Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) to conduct a thorough probe into allegations of external influence in the case, the Home Minister's Office said.
The probe body has been asked to take appropriate action based on the findings, it added.
According to the Congress-led UDF government of Keralam, the allegations against Kumar include criminal misconduct in awarding public works to contractors while he was PWD Secretary.
The VACB had earlier conducted enquiries and, according to the complaint, these were closed abruptly.
The complainant has sought enquiry into all the allegations against Kumar, who he claims escaped by using his influence back then.
Following Been's death, a Vigilance probe was ordered in 2006. However, the probe did not proceed further, and Kumar moved to the Defence Ministry on deputation, according to sources cited by news agency PTI.
KERALAM MINISTER DISMISSES VENDETTA ANGLE
Speaking on the fresh probe ordered by him, Chennithala on Sunday referred to the purported mention of Kumar's name in Been's suicide note, saying, "The government cannot sit idle. I cannot become a mute spectator."
Though the Keralam minister asserted that Kumar was acting as a "tool" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, he insisted that the investigation was not meant to be a form of political vendetta.
"SIR and other issues are there. We are fighting against him (Gyanesh Kumar). But this case is different... As a minister, it is my bounden duty to go into the details, and if there is a cognisable offence, it is my duty to send it to the vigilance director for further enquiry," Chennithala was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.