Kerala Health Minister K Muralidharan has said the vigilance inquiry involving Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar relates to alleged irregularities during his tenure as the state’s Public Works Department Secretary in 2006, and is not directed at his present constitutional role.
Speaking to ANI on Monday, Muralidharan said the case was based on complaints made when Kumar was serving as a government secretary in Kerala. He rejected the suggestion that the inquiry was politically motivated and said complaints had been submitted by members of both the ruling party and the Opposition at the time.
“This case is not against the Chief Election Commissioner; this case was against our former government secretary of Kerala,” Muralidharan said, explaining that the government had reopened the matter after fresh complaints were raised by “some important persons”.
The inquiry was ordered by Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and is being conducted by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau. It concerns the alleged death by suicide of Malaysian civil engineer Lee See Been, who was associated with the PATI-BEL consortium responsible for upgrading the MC Road under the Kerala State Transport Project.
According to the report, Lee See Been’s alleged suicide note had named Gyanesh Kumar, who was the state PWD Secretary at the time. The fresh inquiry was initiated after allegations that the original preliminary inquiry conducted in 2006 had been derailed by external pressure. The supplied report does not establish the outcome of the original inquiry or the allegations against any individual.
The Home Department has sought all relevant files connected with the 2006 Vigilance preliminary inquiry. The Home Minister’s Office said Chennithala had directed the Vigilance Director to conduct a detailed investigation into the allegations of external influence and take appropriate action based on the findings.
The case places the administrative record of a major state road project at the centre of a renewed investigation. The MC Road upgrade was undertaken through the Kerala State Transport Project, involving a consortium responsible for project-related work. The available account does not provide the value of the contract, the specific irregularities under investigation, or the current status of the road project.
Muralidharan said the inquiry should be understood as relating to Kumar’s earlier service as a state government secretary rather than to his current position as Chief Election Commissioner. The investigation will now turn on the files from the 2006 preliminary inquiry, the complaints received by the government and the allegations that external influence affected the earlier process.
