Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 24: Kerala’s Excise Minister K. Babu on Saturdayhanded over his resignation to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, after a court ordered a case against him for allegedly accepting a bribe of Rs.50 lakh to permit closed bars to continue to function.
Babu said it was the “result of a conspiracy” hatched by the opposition CPI-M and a section of the bar owners.
Babu’s resignation came soon after the Thrissur vigilance court ordered a case to be registered against him after the vigilance department asked for a month’s time to submit a verification report following a complaint by whistle-blower bar owner Biju Ramesh that he bribed Babu to permit bars to continue to function.
“All this while, I did not reveal what transpired that led to this situation in the court today.
“It was at a meeting held at the residence of CPI-M legislator V. Sivankutty on December 15, 2014, in which present CPI-M state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and a few bar owners decided to level this allegation against me,” Babu told reporters at a hurriedly called press meeting here.
The bar scam surfaced in October 2014 when Biju Ramesh alleged that the state’s then finance minister K.M. Mani was given Rs.1 crore as bribe by Kerala’s bar owners to ensure reopening of the 418 closed bars in the state.
“It was on October 31, 2014 that Biju Ramesh, who owns nine bars in the capital city, first made an allegation against then state finance minister K.M. Mani.
“On that day, there was no mention of my name. But it was only after this meeting with CPI-M leaders where the conspiracy was hatched against me, Ramesh first raised the allegation against me,” said Babu.
He said he was not present in court on Saturday, and only heard about it from the media.
