Petition of Achuthanandan’s son against probe dismissed

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The Kerala high court on Thursday dismissed a petition by former chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan’s son for an interim order to stop the vigilance probe against him instituted by the state government last week.

The state Cabinet ordered a full-fledged vigilance probe against V.A. Arunkumar in 11 specific cases, which chief minister Oomen Chandy as leader of opposition had pointed to in a letter to the then chief minister Achuthanandan a few months back.

The court refused to issue the interim order and sent a notice to the state government to file its views on the issue in a week’s time. The Chandy government went ahead with the vigilance probe only after withdrawing the case filed in this regard by the Achuthanandan government early in 2011 at the Lokayukta. Chandy had objected to the Lokayukta probe as some allegations could not be inquired by the ombudsman because it was out of his purview.

The vigilance probe will look into 11 allegations which includes Arunkumar taking a bribe of7 lakh from the sandalwood mafia in 2004, his role in scuttling a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe in the lottery scam, and allegations of corrupt deals when he was the managing director of a state-run organisation.