Kerala’s Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) submitted a charge sheet against former minister and senior Congress leader K Babu on Tuesday.
The charge sheet was submitted at the Vigilance court in Muvattupuzha relates to a disproportionate assets (DA) case of 2016.
Babu held the Excise portfolio in the previous United Democratic Front government.
A case was also registered against his alleged benamis - Baburam and Mohanan, after raids at their residences, for amassing wealth disproportionate to their known sources of income.
In the probe, the VACB found that 45% of the former minister’s wealth was illegally amassed.
Babu had filed a complaint with Loknath Behera, when he was heading the anti-corruption wing, claiming that his statement was not recorded before submitting the charge sheet in the case.
He had also requested that the travel and dearness allowances, which he availed when he was a minister, should be included in his source of income, which was accepted by the VACB.
The VACB has also recorded the statement of people close to Babu.
Babu has represented the Tripunithura Assembly constituency in Ernakulam for five terms.
In January 2016 when the UDF was in power, Babu created a political drama by withdrawing his resignation from the government within a week of submitting it.
He had tendered his resignation after the Vigilance court ordered registration of FIR against him in the bar bribery case. Babu’s logic for withdrawing his resignation was that he ‘was an obedient party worker’. However, the UDF didn’t accept his resignation.
Babu’s image has been tarnished by the bar bribery and DA cases. He was defeated in the 2016 Assembly elections by CPI (M)’s young leader M Swaraj.