Vigilance court accepts petition against Kerala CM's alleged corruption

The Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Court on Thursday accepted a petition filed by whistle-blower Congress legislator Mathew Kuzhalnadan against the alleged corruption by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his daughter Veena.

In his petition, Kuzhalnadan sought a probe into how CM Vijayan allegedly misused his power to favour the Kochi-based mining firm CMRL by violating land reform rules, and in the bargain, helped Veena receive "illegal gratification" for her IT company Exalogic.

While the Kerala government strongly opposed the petition, citing lack of clarity in the petitioner’s demand, the court nixed the arguments and accepted the petition.

It asked the vigilance director to submit a report on the petition and posted the case for further hearing on 14 March.

In August, Kuzhalnadan wrote to the state finance minister highlighting a report by the income tax department stating that Veena’s firm Exalogic had received Rs 1.72 crore from CMRL.

The new move by Kuzhalnadan comes after the Karnataka High Court refused to stay the Serious Fraud Investigation Office probe into Veena’s firm last week.