Relatives create more trouble for ex-chief justice

Thiruvananthapuram: Fresh allegations about his kin accumulating wealth have put former India chief justice K. G. Balakrishnan into more trouble. In the latest expose, local television channels in Kerala reported that another son-in-law of Balakrishnan, M. J. Benny had been involved in some land deals in Kochi.

These deals were allegedly disproportionate to his known sources of income, reports said.

The allegation surfaced on the heels of the state government deciding on a vigilance probe into reports about amassment of wealth by P. V. Sreenijan, another son-in-law of Balakrishnan.

The directive was given by chief minister V. S. Achuthanandan to home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, who in turn forwarded the orders to concerned officials.

Balakrishnan, meanwhile, has responded to a Malayalam weekly that the onus of responding to the allegations was on Sreenijan.

Balakrishnan is presently the chairman of the National Human Rights Commission.

Sreenijan is an official of the Congress unit in Kerala, and the allegations against him have triggered protests within the party for action against him.

A senior Youth Congress official who arrived in Kerala yesterday said the party would look into the matter.

Demands

In another related development, the state secretary of the Communist Party of India C. K. Chandrappan demanded that Balakrishnan be removed from his post, in the backdrop of allegations against his family members.

"The federal government has the agencies to investigate these allegations. Balakrishnan must step down from his post or the federal government must take steps for that," Chandrappan said.