Kerala Public Works Minister P.K. Basheer told the State Assembly on Thursday, October 29, that a fresh preliminary inquiry by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) into allegations of corruption in a road project undertaken nearly two decades ago, when Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar was the state's Public Works Department secretary, is under way and its report is not yet available.

Source: PTI

The minister was replying to questions raised during Question Hour by BJP MLAs B.B. Gopakumar, V. Muraleedharan and Rajeev Chandrasekhar on the status of the vigilance probe. Basheer said the fresh preliminary inquiry was ordered after discrepancies were noticed in the VACB investigation conducted in 2006, and that the earlier investigation files were reportedly closed without the probe being fully completed.

The allegations relate to the Kerala State Transport Project and the MC Road works undertaken in 2006. According to the minister's account in the Assembly, the allegations include a charge that PWD officials had demanded Rs 2 crore to clear bills submitted by companies contracted for road development works. Basheer also told the House that, according to the government, a loss of Rs 700 crore was caused due to the alleged irregularities committed by officials in connection with the project. These are allegations stated by the minister; they have not been established by a court.

Basheer said the state intends to take further action after a detailed review of the earlier investigation report. Kumar, a Kerala-cadre IAS officer, was PWD secretary at the time of the project and is now the Chief Election Commissioner. No findings against him have been delivered by the fresh inquiry, whose report is awaited.