Kochi: Kerala High Court on Monday gave the nod to go ahead with the investigation against former finance minister K.M. Mani and poultry farmers in a tax concession case. A division bench observed that the appeals against rejecting to quash the FIR would not come in the way of the investigation based on it. The observation came while considering an appeal of poultry farmers P. T. Benny and P. T. Devassy after a single judge dismissed Mr Mani's petition.
The Vigilance had accused Mr Mani of criminal conspiracy with them, abusing his position, and ordering a stay on revenue proceedings to recover Rs 65-crore tax arrears. It also alleged that two sales tax deputy commissioners (appeal), who probed it, got transferred to favour the farmers. It submitted that the two officials who were dealing with the appeal of Thomson Group were moved out solely to suit the interest of them. V. J. Charles, who was posted in that place, allowed the appeal to set aside the demand for Rs 65 crore.
Bhadrananda’s bail plea dismissed
The Kerala High Court on Monday dismissed the bail application of Swami Himaval Bhadrananda who was arrested on charges of attempting to incite communal hatred through Facebook. The court observed that bail cannot be granted at this stage of investigation. The case was registered by the north police after noticing that Himaval Bhadrananda, popularly known as Thokku Swamy, used to post derogatory comments on his Facebook inciting communal hatred and posted the updates on his Facebook page in November 2016.
Bhadrananda had approached the police seeking protection saying he had received death threat from an unidentified person from Kasargod via the social media. The police, however, found controversial postings while scourging through his Facebook account in connection with the death threat complaint. The court recently had set Thokku Swamy free in the firing inside a police station case.
