Bar bribery: Shankar Reddy’s plea rejected

Kochi: The Kerala High Court Friday rejected DGP N. Shankar Reddy’s plea challenging the Vigilance court directive to conduct preliminary inquiry against him in the bar bribery case.

Reddy, in his plea, said he had given only supervisory notes to the Investigating Officer in the bribery case R. Sukesan, instructing him to verify certain facts discussed during the course of investigation.

He pointed out that the final report in the case was submitted before a Vigilance court, treating the case as further action dropped for want of evidence. There was no evidence to prove the demand of bribe by the accused.

The Thiruvanthapuram Vigilance court’s directive to conduct a preliminary inquiry into the allegation that he had torpedoed the investigation into the charges levelled against former Finance Minister K.M. Mani in the bar licence renewal bribery case.