Flyover scam case: HC grants bail to ex-minister Ebrahim Kunju

The Kerala High Court on Friday grantedbail to former state minister and IUML MLA V K Ebrahim Kunju,arrested by the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) inthe flyover scam case, considering his ill health.

Kunju was arrested on November 18 in connection withalleged corruption in the construction of a flyover atPalarivattom here during the previous Congress-led UDF rule.

The High Court had on December 14 dismissed Kunju's bailapplication with the liberty to file a fresh bail applicationonce he was discharged from the hospital, where he is nowundergoing treatment for cancer while under judicial custody.

Granting him bail on Friday, the court observed thatthere is admittedly a change of circumstances as far as hishealth is concerned.

''As far as the contents in ground of the bail applicationand the certificates produced by the petitioner, the stateattorney submitted that there is no dispute on that.

''If that is the case, I think the petitioner can bereleased on medical grounds with stringent conditions.

There can be a direction that the petitioner shall notleave the jurisdictional limit of Ernakulam district alongwith other conditions,'' Justice P V Kunhikrishnan said in theorder.

The court granted him bail on the conditions of executinga bond for Rs two lakh with two solvent sureties each for thelike sum to the satisfaction of the jurisdictional court andto appear before the Investigating Officer for interrogationas and when required.

The court also directed him to surrender his passport.

Kunju moved the high court seeking bail after a VigilanceCourt in Muvattupuzha recently dismissed his bail application.

The MLA, representing Kalamassery constituency in thestate assembly, was quizzed by VACB sleuths at the privatehospital where his arrest was recorded following which amagistrate visited the premises and remanded him to judicialcustody.

Prior to it, he was interrogated multiple times in thepast by the agency in connection with the case.

The Vigilance has alleged that Kunju, then the PublicWorks Department Minister, sanctioned interest-free funds tothe contracting company, which had built the flyover, nowclosed after it developed cracks within a year of itsinauguration in 2016.

The arrest came eight months after he was arraigned as anaccused in the case.

Kunju has dismissed as ''politically motivated'' thecharges that he was responsible for the poor quality of thebridge, built when he was the PWD minister in the previous UDFgovernment headed by Oommen Chandy.