Allow CBI To Probe Ex-Top Kerala Officer: Activist To Supreme Court

Thiruvananthapuram: Human rights activist and whistleblower Jomon Puthenpurackal has approached the Supreme Court seeking the immediate vacation of the stay order on the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe against former Kerala Chief Secretary KM Abraham in a disproportionate assets case. In his counter-affidavit, Puthenpurackal requested the top court to allow the CBI to proceed with its investigation into the alleged illegal wealth accumulated by Abraham during his service. He argued that no prior government sanction is required to investigate a public servant after retirement or for disproportionate asset charges.The CBI's anti-corruption branch in Kochi had previously registered a formal case following a Kerala High Court directive.CBI Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Renuka Devi has also submitted an affidavit supporting the plea to dismiss Abraham's appeal and allow the probe. Puthenpurackal accused state vigilance officers of deliberately narrowing the investigation period to shield a multimillion-rupee commercial building project in Kollam, demanding an unhindered CBI inquiry to ensure public accountability. The current controversy stems from a complaint filed by Jomon, alleging that Abraham amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income between 2000 and 2015. The alleged assets included a multi-crore apartment in Mumbai, a flat in Thiruvananthapuram, and joint ownership in an Rs 8-crore commercial complex at Kadappakkada, Kollam. Although Kerala's Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) initially cleared Abraham, Jomon argued that vigilance officials intentionally shortened the investigation timeframe to 2000-2009, excluding the Kollam commercial complex construction from scrutiny. ​The legal battle escalated on April 11, 2025, when the Kerala High Court set aside the local Vigilance Court's closure order and directed the CBI to register a case and investigate Abraham, observing that state vigilance had shown deliberate bias.On April 29, 2025, the top court put a temporary stay on the CBI probe to examine the technical requirement of prior approval. In September 2026, the CBI filed counter-affidavits in the Supreme Court, urging the bench to vacate the stay and allow the criminal investigation to continue. "For a fair, honest and complete investigation to retain public confidence in the impartial working of the State agencies, the investigation in the present case is to be done by the CBI," the court said. Dr KM Abraham, a retired 1982-batch Kerala-cadre IAS officer, served as the Chief Secretary of Kerala and later as the Chief Principal Secretary to then Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Earlier in his career, while serving as a Whole Time Member of SEBI, he gained national recognition for exposing financial irregularities in the Sahara Group scam.