Vijayan afraid that Life Mission probe may reach him: Chennithala

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 3 : Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala on Saturday said the decision of the Kerala government to approach the high court to prevent the ongoing CBI probe into the Life Mission housing project was because there was a likelihood that the probe might lead to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan.
Speaking to the media here on Saturday, Chennithala said it was rather strange that the government had approached the high court stating that the CBI need not probe the alleged corruption in the Life Mission project as the state government was not involved and it pertained to the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA).
“However, on June 13, 2017, this very same Vijayan government came out with an extraordinary gazette asking the CBI to probe all FCRA violations in the state. Now Vijayan is asking the high court that the CBI need not probe the FCRA violations into the Life Mission project. All are surprised at the happenings under Vijayan. One day he brings out an order for a probe, another day he goes to the court against his own order,” said Chennithala.
“Vijayan is jittery because the ongoing CBI probe into the Life Mission project might reach him and his cabinet colleagues and, hence, he is trying his best to do whatever he can to thwart the CBI probe. But the high court has said, let the probe continue. All through Vijayan has been saying that the state government has no role. If it is so, then why is he so worried at the probe moving forward,” added Chennithala.
In the Life Mission project, billed as the pet project of Vijayan, the construction of the 140 flats was handed over to Santhosh Eapen’s firm Unitac Builders. It is believed that the person behind the deal was Swapna Suresh as this project was funded by the UAE based charity organisation Red Crescent, and was routed through the UAE Consulate.
Swapna Suresh is a former employee of the UAE Consulate. Ahead of finalising this project in the UAE by Vijayan, Swapna had reached the UAE along with now suspended senior IAS official M. Sivasankar, who was also the former secretary to Vijayan.