Ex-CJI's brother quits as special govt pleader

Thiruvananthapuram: KG Bhaskaran, the brother of former chief justice of India KG Balakrishnan, has resigned from the post of Special Government Pleader of Kerala. Bhaskaran submitted his resignation to the Advocate General of Kerala, CP Sudhakara Prasad, on Friday citing health reasons for his decision.

He was under pressure to resign following allegations against him of having acquired land illegally. Bhaskaran and his family members allegedly own land and property in Kerala and Tamil Nadu disproportionate to his known sources of income.

Bhaskaran was appointed special government pleader to defend cases against Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes.

There were allegations that Bhaskaran had purchased about 60 acres in Dindigul in Tamil Nadu in 2005-06 in the name of his wife, four children and KG Praveen, a close relative of Justice Balakrishnan, and had built a farm house.

There were also reports that Bhaskaran and his wife Ratnaamma, a retired judicial magistrate, were building a palatial house in Puthen Kurushu in Ernakulam distirct and that he had spent over Rs one crore on it. Bhaskaran had termed the reports as "exaggerated".

Close relatives of Balakrishnan, who is the Chairman of National Human Rights Commission, have allegedly amassed wealth and property disproportionate to their known sources of income.

Balakrishnan's two sons-in-law, PV Srinijan and MJ Benny, also stand accused of amassing and owning property disproportionate to their known means of income. Srinijan resigned from the Kerala unit of Youth Congress on Wednesday.

Srinijin, who had declared only assets worth Rs 25,000 in the affidavit filed in the 2006 Assembly elections (he was the Congress candidate from Njarackal,) now allegedly owns several prime properties, including a riverside plot of 2.5 acres at Annamanada in Thrissur.

He and his wife Sony are also said to have acquired a flat in the city, a plum office space near the High Court and 25 cents of land at Elamakkara (in the suburbs of Kochi) where the construction of a bungalow is in progress, according to reports.

Both Srinijin and Sony are practising advocates.

Former Supreme Court Judge Krishna Iyer has been claiming that he was asked by a former judge of the Kerala High Court to not complain against Balakrishnan regarding allegations of disproportionate wealth against Srinijin.