Kerala to take up allegations against judges with CJI

Arjun Raghunath
The New Indian Express
16 Feb 2011



THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala Government will be seeking a high-level probe by the apex court into the allegations that two former judges of the Kerala High Court had accepted bribe to derail the investigation into the infamous ice cream parlour scandal involving former Minister and Indian Union
Muslim League (IUML) leader P.K.Kunhalikutty.

The state government will be writing a letter to the Chief Justice of India (CJI) seeking appropriate action, preferably a high level
judicial probe, into the allegations that justices K.Narayana Kurup and K.Thankappan had accepted a bribe of about Rs. 40 lakh to derail a
CBI probe into the ice cream parlour case.

Former Additional Director-General of Prosecutions K C Peter, in a recent sting operation by a television channel, had revealed that the two judges, Justice K Narayana Kurup and Justice K Thankappan, accepted bribe from Kunhalikutty’s co-brother K A Rauf for dismissing a plea for a CBI probe into the ice cream parlour case in 2007 after a lower court acquitted all the accused in the case.

Peter had later disowned the report and both the judges denied having accepted bribe.

‘’The allegations against the two judges are very serious in nature as it has cast a shadow over the entire judicial system of the country and hence, we are taking up the matter with the CJI,’’ Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan told ‘Express’.

‘’Once we gather sufficient evidence with regard to the allegations, we will write to the CJI,’’ Kodiyeri said.

A special investigation team led by Additional DGP (Crimes) Vinson M Paul had already started a probe into the fresh revelations in the case.

‘’Media reports alone could not be considered as evidence. Hence, once the SIT gathers sufficient evidence, the government will be writing to the CJI along with the evidence seeking a probe into the matter,’’ Kodiyeri said.

The SIT had already interrogated Rauf and Kunhalikutty in connection with the fresh revelations in the case. Rauf had earlier said that he would hand over all the evidence to the police regarding the attempts made to derail the investigation, including that of bribing the judges.

Meanwhile, Kodiyeri said that the allegations of amassing of wealth by the close relatives of former CJI K G Balakrishnan, as well as the revelations by Congress leader K Sudhakaran MP, that he had witnessed a judge accepting bribe, would not be brought to the notice of the apex court at this point of time as the state government had already initiated separate investigations into the issues.