Thiruvananthapuram: Senior CPM leader E. P. Jayarajan returned to the cabinet as yet another much-hyped action of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau when Jacob Thomas was its director turned out to be a damp squib.
Former chief secretaries K. M. Abraham and Paul Antony, current chief secretary Tom Jose, DGP Shanker Reddy and Restructuring and Internal Audit Board (RIAB) former secretary K. Padmakumar had already survived the onslaught.
Ironically, Mr Thomas is now under suspension on multiple charges of revealing official matters in his book and mocking the government's response to the Ockhi disaster.
It was during his tenure that the VACB voluntarily initiated a further probe against former finance minister K. M. Mani on bar bribery allegations claiming fresh evidence.
But later the Vigilance itself gave a clean chit to Mr Mani rejecting the claim.
However, the Vigilance could file a charge-sheet against former minister K. Babu in a disproportionate asset case.
Mr Jayarajan had to quit in October 2016 after the anti-corruption sleuths registered a case of nepotism in the appointment of his nephew and Kannur MP P. K. Sreemathi's son Sudheer Nambiar as managing director of public sector Kerala State Industrial Enterprises.
But the Vigilance later closed the case saying it could not substantiate the charges.
Paul Antony was also arraigned in the nepotism case against Mr Jayarajan as he was the additional chief secretary (industries).
The other day only government decided to reinstate Mr Padmakumar as managing director of Kerala State Rural Women's Electronic Industrial Cooperative Federation (RUTRONIX) based on a High Court directive. His arrest by the Vigilance had also raised many an eyebrow as he was instrumental in exposing corruption at many public sector undertakings.
A highly controversial action by Mr Thomas was a raid on the house of Mr Abraham, a highly-respected IAS officer who was the additional chief secretary (finance) then, in connection with a quick verification on a petition filed at a court by activist Jomon Puthenpurackal.
The vigilance later filed a report stating that there was no evidence.
Vigilance initiated a case against present chief secretary Tom Jose in 2016 based on a petition filed by another controversial activist.They even raided houses of Mr Jose, then an additional chief secretary, and gave a clean chit later.
The IAS officers had raised strong resentments over Mr Thomas's action and had even planned to go on mass leave.
Another controversial action was a probe against his predecessor Shanker Reddy on charges of sabotaging the bar bribery case by the same petitioner, Paichira Navas, allegedly his henchman.
The Vigilance court recently rejected the allegations against Mr Reddy, who is now heading the Kerala Police Housing Construction Corporation. The vigilance also initiated a probe into allegations that Mr Reddy and four other IPS officers, N. C. Asthana, A. Hemachandran, Rajesh Dewan and Muhammed Yasin, got promotions during the UDF dispensation flouting norms.
