Procurement News Notice |
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| PNN | 8234 |
| Work Detail | The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) on Wednesday brought under the scanner two more bank lockers belonging to former Minister K. Babu and members of his family. The Special Cell of VACB probing the amassment of alleged disproportionate assets against Mr. Babu examined the locker registered under a joint account held by his younger daughter Aiswarya and her husband Vipin at the Ponnurunni branch of the Union Bank, which had 120 sovereigns of gold ornaments. However, the bank locker registered with the account of Mr. Babu and his wife at the Thripunithura branch of the State Bank of Travancore was reportedly empty. The sleuths had allegedly found 117 sovereigns of gold ornaments from another locker of Aiswarya and Vipin at the Vennala branch of the Punjab National Bank on Monday. Mr. Babu had allegedly given around 200 sovereigns of gold ornaments to Aiswarya on her marriage, VACB sources said. Mr. Vipin, who was present during the examination of the locker, had told reporters in advance that there were more than 100 sovereigns of gold ornaments inside the locker and that it belonged to his family. ‘Confusion over names’ He said that the VACB had erred in attributing the land owned by his father Babu in Theni, Tamil Nadu, to the former minister and that the confusion caused by similar names could have been averted had the investigating agency conducted a proper probe. The land, he claimed, was disposed of in 2011. The investigating team had seized documents related to 120 acres of land in Theni in Saturday’s raid. Meanwhile, V.N. Sasidharan, Superintendent of VACB Special Cell, held a meeting with top officials of the Vigilance department in Thiruvananthapuram. The agency is yet to get the documents seized in Saturday’s raids and submitted before the court. Only after examining the documents would officials interrogate Mr. Babu and his alleged benamis, Mohanan and Baburam. Vigilance had submitted in the court 246 documents and materials, including 30 seized from Mr. Babu’s house and 85 from the house of Mr. Baburam. |
| Country | India , Southern Asia |
| Industry | Metals & Minerals |
| Entry Date | 15 Oct 2016 |
| Source | http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/120-sovereigns-of-gold-in-lockers-linked-to-babu/article9082180.ece |
