The Kerala High Court on Monday denied bail to Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) legislator VK Ebrahim Kunju, who was arrested in the Palarivattom flyover scam case by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB). The court, however, granted the Ebrahim Kunju, who is also the former Public Works Department (PWD) Minister, the liberty to file a fresh bail application once he was discharged from the hospital. The IUML leader is undergoing treatment for cancer while under judicial custody.
Ebrahim Kunju was arrested on November 18 in connection with alleged corruption in the construction of Palarivattom flyover in Kochi, during the previous Congress-led UDF rule. He was arrested after a Vigilance Court in Muvattupuzha dismissed his bail application recently.
He was quizzed by the VACB sleuths at the private hospital where his arrest was recorded following which a magistrate visited the premises and remanded him to judicial custody. Ebrahim Kunju, representing Kalamassery constituency in the state Assembly, was interrogated multiple times in the past by the agency in connection with the case.
The Vigilance has alleged the then Public Works Department Minister sanctioned interest-free funds to the contracting company, which had built the flyover. The flyover constructed at a cost of Rs 48 crore was closed in May 2019 two years after it was thrown open to the public due to major structural damages.
The arrest came eight months after he was arraigned as an accused in the case. Ebrahim Kunju and the Congress led UDF has said that the arrest was "politically motivated".
In September, the ruling CPI(M) led LDF government started demolition of the flyover. The state government has said that the flyover will be rebuilt within nine months. The reconstruction will be carried out by Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society (ULCCS) Ltd, and Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) Principal Advisor E Sreedharan will oversee the construction.
Watch video of Palarivattom flyover being demolished