Thiruvananthapuram, Sep 24 (IANS): A page purportedly from the diary of CMRL Managing Director S. Sasidharan Kartha, now in the possession of investigators, has triggered a fresh political controversy after BJP state vice-president Shone George claimed that it contains the names of several senior leaders of both the ruling UDF and the Opposition Left.
George, who has been pursuing the CMRL-Exalogic case for the past three years, first released a photograph of the page on social media with the question:
“Why is there no Vigilance probe? The figures on this page provide answers to several questions.”
At a press conference on Thursday, he went further, claiming that the page has the names of Chief Minister V.D. Satheesan, Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, Ministers K. Muraleedharan and Shibu Baby John, besides senior leaders from both political fronts.
The list also includes Pinarayi Vijayan, his former cabinet colleague P. Rajeev, K. B. Ganesh Kumar and veteran CPI(M) leaders, including Elamaram Kareem, State CPI(M) secretary M.V. Govindan and other Left leaders.
George alleged that the entries indicate payments made to the politicians, including an entry of Rs 5 lakh against Satheesan’s name.
The allegations have not been independently established merely by the diary entries, and the context and nature of each payment would have to be established through investigation.
The disclosure comes days after the state government decided to conduct a preliminary inquiry through a Crime Branch Special Investigation Team into information shared by the Enforcement Directorate regarding the CMRL-Exalogic transactions.
The decision followed legal advice obtained by the government after the ED wrote to the state police chief seeking action in connection with alleged offences under the Prevention of Corruption Act.
George questioned why the matter was entrusted to the Crime Branch instead of the Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau and demanded that the entire matter be handed over to the CBI.
He alleged that Chennithala, as Home Minister, had deliberately chosen the Crime Branch route instead of a Vigilance investigation. Chennithala, however, has said the government acted on the Advocate General’s legal opinion and that the ED’s information could not simply be ignored.
The latest controversy also brings renewed attention to the earlier investigations into CMRL.
The Kerala High Court, in its June 2026 judgment, recorded that the Ministry of Corporate Affairs ordered an investigation into CMRL in January 2024 and subsequently entrusted it to the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO).
The court also recorded that the Income Tax Settlement Commission had upheld findings relating to inflated expenses, generation of cash for alleged illegal payments and a purported Rs 1.72-crore payment to Veena Vijayan and Exalogic despite no services being rendered.
The page released by George was described by him as one of the documents submitted before the court by the SFIO.
With the ED-triggered state police inquiry now set to begin, the new diary disclosure has triggered a second political question: whether the Crime Branch preliminary inquiry will examine the wider list of alleged political payments or remain confined to the specific material referred by the ED.
