Opposition demands action against Kerala bureaucrat

The opposition in Kerala Thursday demanded that strong action be taken against a senior bureaucrat whose office and house were raided by the vigilance and anti-corruption bureau.

The bureau officials seized documents and cash from the possession of T.O. Sooraj, Kerala PWD secretary. He was under the lens of the vigilance bureau for quite some time.

Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan Thursday said the state government should immediately suspend him from service as documents and cash amounting to Rs.23 lakh were recovered from him.

"There were reports that a party from the ruling front came out to defend this (PWD secretary) officer. The state government should suspend him at the earliest," said Achuthanandan.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan also voiced a similar demand against Sooraj.

The PWD ministry is under the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), the second biggest ally of the Oommen Chandy government. PWD Minister V.K. Ebrahim Kunju was not aware about this raid till it began.

"I will be speaking to the chief minister on what needs to be done. There is no doubt that officials should be clean," Kunju told reporters.

IUML general secretary K.P.A. Majeed said baseless allegations have surfaced that the party is supporting him.

The vigilance officials will submit their report to the Thrissur vigilance court which gave the nod for the raid.

"It's too early to make any comment," Chandy told reporters.