Home minister Ramesh Chennithala moves against order in Titanium case

The Vigilance court had also asked the Vigilance to register an FIR against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, PWD Minister V.K.Ebrahim Kunju and six others for their alleged involvement in the case.

Advocate K.R.Sunil submitted before the court that Ramesh Chennithala was implicated in the offence on the sole ground that he had been the president of the Kerala Pradesh Congress committee (KPCC) during the relevant period.

The decision of the board of directors of Travancore Titanium Products Ltd (TTP) was placed before the Government for administrative sanction and on May 19, 2005, the Government had granted sanction.

The petitioner assumed charge as president of the KPCC only on June 30, 2005. He further argued that Chennithala had been the secretary of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) during that period. The Vigilance court failed to consider the certificate which showed Chennithala assuming charge as the president and issued the order, the petition stated.

In the preliminary inquiry there was no mention about the petitioner or any conspiracy with the company or its officials in the alleged commission of the offence, the petition said.

The prosecution case was that as per the agreement with the MECON company the consultancy charges were fixed at Rs 3.5 cr, but a sum of Rs 9 cr was paid to the company without any fresh contract. The total estimated cost as per the directions of the consultant company would have come to around Rs 250 cr.