Kerala: Jailed ex-minister escaped grave charges

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express
19 Feb 2011

THIRUVANATHAPURAM: As he walks into prison, former minister and Kerala Congress(B) leader R Balakrishna Pillai can heave a sigh of relief as a number of serious charges against him in connection with the Idamalayar case are still remaining on paper.

During the probe into the irregularities in the award of contract for the Idamalayar project, the Special Investigation Team (SIT) had also unearthed various other anomalies, including corruption in the supply of cement, excess payment to the private company that constructed the dam and misuse of government vehicles.

In the chargesheet filed at the Idamalayar special court in 1991, the SIT had mentioned that the chargesheet pertaining to these additional charges will be filed in due course. However, in the next two decades those chargesheets haven't been filed for 'mysterious reasons'.

According to Yousuf Kunju, a retired Crime Branch SP who was a member of the SIT, the chargesheet that was filed in 1991 pertained to the irregularities in the award of the contract. During the probe it was also found that cement in large quantities, which was supplied for the project, was not used for the construction. Only 36 percent of the cement supplied was used for construction and the remaining was illegally diverted. It was also found that Rs 1.45 core was paid in excess to the private company which constructed the dam.

Four vehicles provided by the Canadian consultant for the project were also found to be misused. In the chargesheet, it was mentioned that chargesheet for these charges will be filed soon. Similarly, Gopalakrishna Pillai was also not chargesheeted at that time as the permission from the Centre was required, recalls Yousf Kunju.

However, no steps were taken to file those chargesheets thereafter and hence the accused were indeed spared of serious charges.

Sources said that the Justice K Sukumaran Commission, which probed into the Idamalayar scam, had also pointed out these irregularities.

Had these charges been chargesheeted, Balakrishna Pilli and the other accused would have faced severe conviction, the source said.