Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K Sudhakaran on Monday welcomed the vigilance probe initiated on the complaint filed by his former driver Prasanth Babu. He said he will quit public life if an iota of truth is found in the complaint, regarding misappropriation of funds. Vigilance Director General of Police Sudesh Kumar on Sunday ordered a probe into the charges levelled by Babu and asked the vigilance team to submit the report with immediate effect.
Speaking to the media here at the state party headquarters, Sudhakaran said that the CPI(M) should at least have looked into the credibility of the complainant.
"The media has reported that he is a Congress man (Babu) but the truth is that he was ousted from the party in 2013. Likewise he was not my permanent driver, but used to drive when my regular driver took leave. We only gave him a job in the bank and later he was caught red-handed in siphoning funds from the bank. Moreover, today several people are after him as he has taken money promising jobs at the Kannur airport as no job was ever given," said Sudhakaran.
The former driver alleged that Sudhakaran has amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income. He also alleged that 'Sudhakaran had indulged in financial misappropriation of funds during the construction of the Kannur District Congress Committee (DCC) office.'
The complainant had raised an allegation that other than malpractices and misappropriation of funds in the construction of the Kannur DCC, there was also misappropriation of funds in the trust which is in the name of former Chief Minister late K Karunakaran.
"Till date not a single person has raised any complaint about the misappropriation. At least the CPI(M) could have looked into the credibility of the complainant. Anyway I welcome the probe and the state government can even order a CBI probe and I will cooperate," added Sudhakaran.
Sudhakaran is the Congress Member of Parliament (M) from Kannur, which is the hometown of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and the two are said to be old time foes, right from the late sixties when they were college students. A week after Sudhakaran took over as the state Congress chief last month, the two had engaged in a war of words.