Kochi: The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has questioned former minister K Babu’s wife after CCTV footages revealed her checking his bank lockers a week after a disproportionate case was lodged against him. “We took the statement of Geetha and Joshy (Babu’s brother) on the case on Friday and Saturday last. The purpose was to find out whether she had retrieved gold ornament from the bank lockers,” a senior officer said.
As part of probe into the case, the Vigilance had checked two bank lockers of the minister but failed to recover anything. They then checked CCTV images of the banks located at Tripunithura and found Geetha had checked the bank lockers on July 27, a week after the case was registered against Babu. Geetha reportedly told the officers that the ornament was taken out for wearing it on occasions of social and family functions. The ornaments were later seized by VACB during the raid conducted at their residence.
The VACB officials also interrogated Babu’s brother to get details of the assets owned by the former minister and also to cross check statements given by other. The VACB had earlier collected statements of the ex-minister’s daughter and son-in-law on charges that he possessed 120 acres of land in Kambam in Tamil Nadu. VACB had registered case against K. Babu and two others following a preliminary inquiry on charges that Babu had amassed wealth disproportionate to known sources of income while serving as Excise Minister.
