The Special Court for Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) cases here on Friday has posted to September 19 the hearing into various pleas seeking further investigations and to arraign as accused the former Ministers Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and T. Sivadasa Menon and current Speaker G. Karthikeyan in the alleged multi-crore SNC-Lavalin corruption case.
Judge T.S.P. Moosath on Friday heard arguments from petitioners T.P. Nandakumar, Editor, Crime , and from the Thiruvananthapuram-based EMS Samskarika Samithi, who along with lawyer and social activist P. Nagarajan, had submitted pleas requesting for further investigations, before posting the case to next Wednesday.
While the Samithi argued that Mr. Balakrishnan, being a State Electricity Board member, and Mr. Menon, being the then Finance Minister, were in the know of the “shady deals”, Mr. Nandakumar argued that the CBI had not stated why witness Deepak Kumar’s statements were “not trustworthy” and as such, the statements could not be discarded. The Samithi’s petition has included Ministers Aryadan Mohammed and Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan among others as witnesses.
