Petition for court monitoring of bar bribery case closed
The court had earlier refused to order a court-monitored probe into the case
Kochi: Kerala High Court on Monday closed a petition seeking the court’s monitoring of the investigation into the bar bribe case. When the case came up for hearing, Advocate-General K.P. Dandapani submitted that the final report in the bar bribery case had been filed before the Vigilance court on July 7.
Recording the submission and closing the plea, Justice Alexander Thomas observed that with the filing of the charge-sheet, the petition calling for a court- monitored probe had become infructuous.
All-Kerala Anti-Corruption and Human Rights Protection Council president Isaac Varghese had moved the court seeking a court-monitored probe.
According to the petitioner, certain bar owners had pointed fingers at a minister in the current government who sought bribe and the same was handed over to him.
The court had earlier refused to order a court-monitored probe into the case. Mr B.H. Mansoor appeared for the petitioner who argued that a minister abused his official position and thereby committed criminal misconduct.
He demanded Rs 5 crore as illegal gratification to facilitate the renewal of bar licences and obtained Rs 1 crore from the office-bearers of Kerala Bar Hotel Association and thereby committed offences under section 7,13(1) (d) of Prevention of Corruption Act.