HC relaxes strict bail conditions imposed on former minister Ebrahim Kunju

The Kerala High Court on Monday relaxed the strict bail conditions imposed on former state minister V K Ebrahim Kunju, who was arrested by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) in the flyover scam case.

Considering a plea filed by Kunju, seeking relaxation in the bail conditions imposed on him, Justice P V Kunhikrishnan allowed him to travel beyond the jurisdictional limit of Ernakulam district, observing that a person's liberty to move cannot be restrained indefinitely.

Granting Kunju bail on January 8 this year, the court, along with other conditions, had directed him not to leave the jurisdictional limit of Ernakulam district.

Kunju, a senior leader of the IUML, was then granted bail considering his ill health.

He was arrested on November 18 last year in connection with alleged corruption in the construction of a flyover at Palarivattom here during the previous Congress-led UDF rule.

The Vigilance has alleged that Kunju, the then Public Works Department Minister, 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.

Kunju has dismissed as ''politically motivated'' the charges that he was responsible for the poor quality of the bridge.