Kuzhalnadan moves Kerala HC seeking probe against Vijayan, daughter

FIVE weeks after a vigilance court in Kochi rejected a plea moved by first-time Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan seeking a court-monitored probe into the allegations of corruption against Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter Veena Vijayan, Kuzhalnadan filed a fresh application on the matter in the Kerala High Court on Saturday.

The high court will take up the petition on Monday, report online news sites quoting IANS.

Kuzhalnadan had approached the vigilance court seeking a probe by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Department into the allegations that Veena Vijayan’s IT firm got monthly gratification from a Kochi-based mining firm, Cochin Minerals and Rutiles Ltd ( CMRL), for mining sanctions.

After the vigilance court dismissed the plea last month, the CPI-M slammed the Congress legislator for targeting CM Vijayan and his family. Kuzhalnadan had said that he would decide on the next course of action after getting the detailed judegment.

Kuzhalandan has been alleging corruption in Veena Vijayan’s now-closed IT firm Exalogic based out of Bengaluru, both inside and outside the Assembly, for nearly a year now.

He also came under duress when the revenue department after a complaint measured a resort that he co-owns in Idukki district. The department has now registered a case against him over excess land in a government property.

Incidentally, various agencies, including the ED, SFIO, and Income Tax Department, have recorded the statements of many people except Veena Vijayan in the case, which Kuzhalnadan highlighted last year based on an Income Tax Settlement Board statement which pointed out that the CM’s daughter’s firm received Rs 1.72 crore from CMRL.