Kerala: Vigilance books Cong MLA for alleged corruption in bank appointments

The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has registered a case against Congress MLA I C Balakrishnan over alleged corruption in appointments at a local cooperative bank in Sultan Bathery here, officials said on Saturday.

According to VACB officials, the legislator has been booked in connection with the alleged irregularities in appointments made at the Sultan Bathery Primary Co-operative Agricultural and Rural Development Bank.

The allegation is that Balakrishnan accepted over Rs six lakh in 2015 for facilitating an appointment at the bank.

The VACB initiated a preliminary inquiry following the suicide of Congress leader N M Vijayan in December last year.

In his suicide note, Vijayan had accused Balakrishnan of taking bribes for appointments at the Sulthan Bathery Urban Co-operative Bank.

A case in this regard was earlier registered at the Sulthan Bathery police station, and further investigation is underway, VACB officials said.

As part of the preliminary inquiry, the MLA was earlier interrogated by VACB.

He is currently the sole accused in the case and will be questioned again during the ongoing probe, officials added.