Kottayam: Ramesh Chennithala had conspired behind bar bribery allegations against KM Mani, aiming to chair Chief Minister’s post, says a report. Chennithala had planned to secure Mani’s backing by pressuring him, says commission report headed by Late CS Thomas, who was tasked to make inquiries into the issue. Oomen Chandy, the Chief Minister at that time, was aware of the ongoings, says the document.
Participants in the conspiracy included ‘I’ Group leaders Joseph Vazhekunnam and Adoor Prakash with PC George acting as the go-between. Unseating Oomen Chandy to facilitate Ramesh Chennithala’s elation as CM was a main motive of that group politics strategy. KM Mani had refused to play along, hence a quick strategy was framed to rein him in. The game then on in various stages saw participation from R Sukeshan, bar owner Biju Ramesh and some media persons.
They got Adoor Prakash’s relative Biju Ramesh to unleash bribery accusations against Mani starting with his first appearance on Manorama channel on the 11 October, 2014.
In his campaign, Ramesh tightened the loop by connecting Excise Department actions to bar license renewal and allegedly selfish interests nurtured by Mani . Portraying Mani as larger-than-life culprit was the chief goal and several individuals within Congress and outside the party, who shared longstanding grudge against Mani, lend impetus to the events. Chennithala, who was Home Minister at the time, ordered speedy investigations. KR Babu, the then Excise Minister, acted quickly and converted it into cursory probe.
Eventually, an FIR was registered against KM Mani. The cabinet on 2nd April, 2014 had decided to keep low grade bars shuttered. 50 bars fell in the category. However following a ministerial meeting, 418 were send under that category and forced to pull down shutters. The escalation in numbers from 50 to 418, involves corruption, says the CS the 71-paged CS Thomas report. The report also cites several other accusations of serious nature. Mani’s continuance in UDF alongside Congress benefit neither party or public, the document said.
