Cashew Corp graft case: Industries secy offers unconditional apology before Kerala HC

Kochi: Industries department secretary A P M Mohammed Hanish personally appeared before high court on Monday in a contempt case linked to the Cashew Corporation graft case and tendered an unconditional apology for non-compliance with the court’s orders.Hanish also informed HC that he had been relieved of the charge of cashew department and that forest department secretary Biju K had been given full additional charge of the department. However, the bench of Justice A Badharudeen adjourned the matter to July 2 to consider the affidavit filed by Hanish tendering an unconditional apology and to determine the further course of action in the contempt petition.HC was considering a contempt petition by Kadakampally Manoj of Kollam, alleging that the secretary had wilfully refused to grant prosecution sanction to CBI in the graft case despite earlier court directives. During the previous hearing, HC had impleaded Biju K and directed the officer to comply with its order in the graft case by July 9.The contempt proceedings arose after Hanish repeatedly refused to grant prosecution sanction to CBI despite court directions in a case alleging large-scale corruption in the import and purchase of cashews by the Kerala State Cashew Development Corporation (KSCDC). Following investigation, CBI named former KSCDC chairman and INTUC state president R Chandrasekharan, former managing director K A Ratheesh, and two others as accused.

Before filing its final report, the agency had repeatedly sought prosecution sanctions from the industries department. However, the requests were turned down, prompting the filing of the contempt petition.