Kerala ties up CBI in knots

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: On expected lines, the PinarayiVijayan cabinet that met here on Wednesday decided to withdraw the general consent given to the CBI for conducting probes in the state. Kerala thus joins states like West Bengal, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh, which had earlier withdrawn the general consent.

This was on the cards ever since the CBI arrived in the state to conduct a probe into the Life Mission project which provides homes for the homeless and is a pet project of Vijayan.

The Life Mission project at Thrissur ran into trouble soon after the now infamous gold smuggling case surfaced on July 5.

The prime accused in the gold smuggling case Swapna Suresh's links in the Life Mission project surfaced when it was found out that a staggering sum of Rs nine crores was paid as commission from the total project cost of Rs 20 crores.

When local Congress legislator Anil Akkara wrote to the CBI about the alleged corrupt deal, the CBI took up the case, leaving Chief Minister PinarayiVijayan red faced.

With the CBI fast tracking the probe and calling senior IAS official U.V. Jose for questioning, the Congress and the BJP went hammer and tongs at the government demanding the resignation of Vijayan. (IANS)

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