Bar bribery: Clean chit to Kerala minister

The Kerala Vigilance department on Monday filed a Quick Verification Report (QVR) in a special court here, giving a clean chit to Excise Minister K Babu in the bar bribery scam, saying that there was no evidence to substantiate the charges levelled against him.

Vigilance Director N Sankar Reddy filed the report in the court of the Enquiry Commissioner and Special Vigilance Judge, who had recently directed registration of an FIR against Babu and Bar hotelier Biju Ramesh. The Judge had passed the order on a complaint filed by one George Vattukulam who sought a probe against them. Ramesh had alleged that Rs 10 crore had been paid as bribe to Babu to get favourable decisions in the renewal of bar licences.