Kerala: Expelled BJP leader conceeds to Rs 25 lakh from medical college owner

Thiruvanathapuram: The vigilance team probing the cash for medical college affiliation scam alleged to involve state BJP leaders, has had RS Vinod, Former Convener, BJP Cooperative Cell, concede to having accepted Rs 25 lakh from a medical college owner, for promising MCI affiliation.

Nair said he had accepted the amount as consultant fee that was later handed over to Satheesh Nair, a Delhi based consultant. He professed to not have made any personal gains from the deal. He further added that BJP leaders had nothing to do with the alleged scandal.

Vinod was questioned in a complaint that BJP leaders took 5.6 crore from R Shaji, the SR Medical College, Varkala owner, promising MCI affiliation.

Vinod is alleged to have sent money through a Hawala dealer from Perumbavoor in Ernakulam . He was however later thrown out from the BJP following the complaint filed by Sukarno, a CPM leader and former councilor of Thiruvananthapuram Corporation. The case is being investigated by a VACB team headed by SP K. Jayakumar.

However, controversy erupted when an internal inquiry commission of the state BJP, comprising K.P. Sreeshan and A.K. Naseer stated in its report that Vinod had confessed to accepting money from the medical college owner, "It is true that I accepted the money. And it was handed over to Satheesh Nair, a middleman in Delhi, through hawala channels with the help of another person from Perumbavoor," Vinod was quoted saying reports Mathrubhumi.

Vinod had also mentioned his involvement in the transaction being part of his consultancy business and the party had nothing to do with it. Later, when the copy of the inquiry report was leaked to the media, Vinod came out in public an attempt was being made to malign BJP state General Secretary M.T. Ramesh by purposefully dragging his name into the controversy reports OnManorama.