The Kerala High Court on Monday adjourned to March 17 hearing on a writ petition filed against the government order declining sanction for prosecuting the accused in the corruption case relating to procuring inferior quality raw cashew nuts from abroad by the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation.
The petition was filed by Kadakampally Manoj of Kollam. According to him, the CBI had taken over the investigation into the case following a High Court directive. In fact, the CBI had already completed its investigation and prepared a final report. The CBI then sought sanction under Section 19 of the Prevention of Corruption Act for prosecuting INTUC State president R. Chandrasekharan and former managing director of Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation K.A. Ratheesh,both accused in the case . However, the government had refused the request.
The CBI submitted that that the State government had not properly appreciated the evidence forwarded by the CBI and ignored the gravity of the offence while declining sanction to prosecute the accused. The government wanted to delay the filing of a final report by the CBI against the accused.
