Court orders Pillai's arrest in graphite case

The Special Vigilance Court set up here to probe into the infamous graphite case has issued non-bailable arrest warrants against former electricity minister R. Balakrishna Pillai and former Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) chairman P. Kesava Pillai.

Special Judge N.K. Balakrishnan ordered that the duo be arrested from any part of India and produced before the court. The arrest warrants were passed on to the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau Superintendent of Police Nitin Agarwal yesterday.

The move followed last week's Kerala High Court verdict that upheld the Special Court's 1996 sentence of one-year imprisonment and a fine of Rs10,000 imposed on the Pillais. The High Court verdict left the duo with no option but to surrender before the court or face arrest warrants.

The ex-minister has vowed to challenge the verdict in the Supreme Court but even to go in appeal in the apex court, he has to produce documents showing that he surrendered before the Special Court and served at least part of the jail term, according to legal circles.

A division bench of the High Court comprising Justice P.K. Balasubramanyan and Justice T.M. Hassan Pillai upheld the 1996 verdict of the special judge while dismissing appeals filed Balakrishna Pillai and Kesava Pillai. Upholding the lower court verdict, the division bench judges ordered cancellation of bail bonds, if any, executed by the accused.

They were directed to surrender before the Special Court of Vigil-ance in the state capital to undergo the sentence. The bench also directed the Special Court to execute the sentence immediately.

The charge against the duo is that they allegedly sold power to the Bangalore-based Graphites India Ltd. between October 1984 and May 1985 without any power purchase agreement or sanction from the Kerala government which resulted in a pecuniary gain of nearly Rs2 million to the company.

Balakrishna Pillai was also convicted in the Idamalayar corruption case and sentenced to one years imprisonment last year. When the Kochi-based Special Court pronounced the judgement, he collapsed in the court and was removed to a hospital. He arranged to secure bail from the High Court while staying in the hospital.


"My health condition has improved and now a days I am not collapsing due to high blood pressure," he said after the court ruling. Pillai can contest the April polls to the state assembly as his sentence is limited to a one-year jail term. Only those convicted for at least two years jail are barred from entering the poll fray, according to the existing rules.

Two other cases in connection with the shady graphite deal are still pending before courts. During the course of the trial, witnesses testified that Pillai had travelled by air several times at the expense of the graphite company and stayed in their guest house.