Kerala Government Reopens Old Case Linked to CEC Gyanesh Kumar, Vigilance Moves Cautiously

The case dates back to Kumar’s tenure as a senior IAS officer in Kerala and has gained renewed attention because he now heads the Election Commission of India. Opposition parties, including the Congress-led INDIA bloc, have in recent months raised several concerns over the functioning of the poll panel under Kumar.

The decision to revive the case has also received support from the CPI(M), which is part of the INDIA bloc at the national level but remains a political rival of the Congress in Kerala. Both parties have welcomed the move to revisit the old allegations.

The Vigilance Department has initiated the process, but officials are proceeding carefully given the age of the case and the practical difficulties involved in locating records from the original investigation.

The immediate priority for the Vigilance team, headed by Director Manoj Abraham, is to trace files relating to the Kerala State Transport Project road project. Some of the relevant records are believed to be held at a government office in Thiruvananthapuram.

Investigators will also examine whether electronic records from the original probe can still be retrieved. The computers and other systems used during the earlier investigation have long exceeded their normal operational lifespan, potentially making the recovery of old digital records difficult.

The allegations emerged following the suicide of Malaysian engineer Lee See Bin, who was associated with the road project as its project director through Patibel.

The Vigilance Department had investigated the allegations at the time but subsequently closed the case after finding no evidence against Gyanesh Kumar.

The original investigation was conducted during the V.S. Achuthanandan government. A sub-committee comprising the then Ministers M. Vijayakumar, K.P. Rajendran, T.U. Kuruvilla and Thomas Isaac had also examined the allegations. Kuruvilla has since died.

As part of the renewed examination, the Vigilance team is expected to revisit statements recorded during the original investigation. These include testimonies from officials of the General Administration and Finance departments, personnel associated with the Kerala State Transport Project and representatives of the company involved in the project.

The statement of the chartered accountant who audited the road project is also expected to be examined as part of the process.

The department will first assess whether the material that can be recovered from the earlier investigation provides sufficient grounds to proceed with a fresh probe.

The reopening of the case therefore involves both legal and procedural questions surrounding an investigation that was closed nearly two decades ago. At the same time, its revival has attracted political attention because the person at the centre of the old allegations now occupies India's top constitutional position in election administration.