The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed a bail plea of former Public Works (PWD) Minister and Indian Union Muslim League(IUML) leader V.K. Ebrahim Kunju in the Palarivattom flyover corruption case.
Justice P.V.Kunhikrishnan while dismissing Mr. Kunju's petition granted him the liberty to move a fresh bail petition once he was discharged from the hospital and moved to the prison.
The former PWD Minister submitted that the investigating officer could not find any reliable materials against him to justify his arrest. He was suffering from multiple myeloma with renal failure and was undergoing treatment at a private hospital in Kochi, since April 2020. Besides, it had been now more than three weeks since he was arrested. Therefore, further custody of him was unwarranted and arbitrary, he added.
He also contended in his bail petition that his arrest was a politically motivated one. The immediate trigger for his arrest was the ongoing local body elections as well as the recent onslaught on the State government launched by the Opposition parties including the Indian Union Muslim League. He was implicated in a false case, he claimed.
The allegation that he had illegally sanctioned an amount of ₹8,25,59,768 as mobilization advance was false, he submitted. In fact, he had only formally approved the sanction of the advance amount when it was brought before him, after recommendation by two IAS officers and routed through proper channel in the Secretariat.
Opposing the bail plea, K.V. Sohan, State attorney, submitted that custodial interrogation of the petitioner was required. The agency did get only four hours to question him. The VACB had already filed a petition seeking custody for four days before the Vigilance Court concerned.
