Setback for govt in brewery case: Plea seeking closure of probe dismissed, files will be summoned

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A vigilance court on Thursday set aside the state government's plea seeking closure of a probe into allocation of distilleries and breweries and asked it to hand over all the relevant documents to the petitioner and former opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala.

Chennithala, who was the opposition leader during the first term of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in 2018, had denounced the latter for sanctioning three breweries in Kannur, Palakkad and Ernakulam and a distillery in Thrissur -- the first ever since 1999.

Alleging that even though the decision was revoked, there was corruption involved in it, he filed a petition before the vigilance.

Following a spirited campaign by Chennithala then, Pinarayi was forced to withdraw the sanctions and it was cancelled.

But not one to lie low, Chennithala took up this case but failed to get a green signal from either Kerala Governor or the Kerala High Court.

He, then approached the vigilance court and won the first round when the court said the court has the right to go forward with the probe. It also directed the state government to hand over all the documents in this case to Chennithala and posted the case for July 17.

In this case, Chennithala has arraigned Vijayan as the first accused and two former state ministers’ T P Ramakrishnan and E P Jayarajn as witnesses.