‘CM’s name in Kartha’s diary’: Shone George makes allegation

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: BJP state vice-president Shone George, who is pursuing a legal battle in the monthly pay-off case, has alleged that Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan also received money from the black sand company.

At a press conference yesterday, Shone George distributed a copy of a page from the diary of CMRL Managing Director S.N. Sasidharan Kartha, which, he claimed, mentions the names of V.D. Satheesan and others who received money.

Shone George questioned how an investigation against Pinarayi Vijayan could be conducted by people who had allegedly received money themselves. He said such an investigation would not be fair.

The Enforcement Directorate, a central agency, had written to the state police chief alleging that the family of Opposition Leader Pinarayi Vijayan received money from the black sand company and that this amounted to corruption. The letter sought an independent investigation by the police.

Shone George said it was illegal to conduct another preliminary inquiry instead of registering an FIR when a central agency had already conducted a preliminary inquiry and handed over the facts it had found. The state government has justified the decision by saying that the Supreme Court had directed that a preliminary inquiry be conducted before the Vigilance registers an FIR in the Lalita Kumari case.

However, Shone George said the Supreme Court’s direction applies only to complaints from private individuals and not to reports submitted by an investigating agency.

Shone also alleged that the diary contains the names of several other UDF and LDF leaders. He claimed that the names of Ramesh Chennithala, Oommen Chandy, Ibrahim Kunju, Ganesh Kumar, Hibi Eden, Benny, K. Muraleedharan, Palode Ravi, T.M. Jacob, Anwar Sadath, Johnny Nelloor, K.R. Gouri Amma, Shibu Baby John, Pinarayi Vijayan, ‘V.S. Achu’, Elamaram Kareem, Pannyan Raveendran, C.K. Chandrappan, S. Sharma, M.V. Govindan and P. Rajeeve are among those mentioned in the diary.