Vigilance Sleuths Question Ex-Kerala Minister Ebrahim Kunju Arrested in Connection with Flyover Scam

Former Kerala Minister V K Ebrahim Kunju, arrested in connection with a flyover scam, was on Monday questioned by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) probing the case. Kunju, an IUML MLA, was interrogated for over four hours at a private hospital in Kochi where he is admitted for treatment of cancer.

Emerging from the hospital after interrogation, Vigilance sleuths said a report will be filed in the Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court. Last week, the vigilance court had dismissed a bail plea filed by Kunju.

The court had also dismissed a vigilance application seeking his custody but permitted the agency to question the ailing former minister a few hours on Monday at the private hospital in Kochi without affecting his health. Dismissing the plea to grant police custody of the accused, the court, which studied the report of a medical board constituted by it to assess the health of Kunju, had said "there is no material suggestive of the fact that the accused is sound in body." The court had directed the investigating officer and the other members in the team taking part in the questioning to undergo COVID test within 24 hours before commencement of his interrogation.

The court had also directed the officer to give 15 minutes break after completion of every one hour of interrogation. Kunju's arrest was recorded by the VACB on November 18 at the private hospital.

The IUML leader, representing Kalamassery constituency in the state assembly, was interrogated multiple times in the past by the agency in connection with the Palarivattom flyover scam case. The Vigilance has alleged Kunju sanctioned interest-free funds to the contracting company, which had built the flyover, now closed after it developed cracks within a year of its inauguration in 2016.

The arrest came eight months after he was arraigned as accused in the corruption case relating to the construction of the flyover in the city.

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