Keralam's vigilance bureau revisits a 2006 bribery allegation against election chief Gyanesh Kumar

Keralam's anti-corruption bureau is now examining a 20-year-old bribery allegation against India's Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar. The state's Congress-led government has given its formal consent, and the contractor behind the newest complaint sat down with investigators on Monday, Nov. 9. No court or official body has found that Kumar did anything wrong. A first inquiry into the same events, opened in 2007, was closed after investigators found no offense. Kumar has not responded publicly to the allegations, according to Hindustan Times and The New Indian Express.

The case matters beyond Keralam because of who Kumar is and when it is happening. He runs the body that conducts India's national and state elections. He is also the main target of an opposition campaign over the Special Intensive Revision of voter rolls, which has included the INDIA bloc's push to impeach him. The state government says the probe has nothing to do with that fight. The state's BJP unit says the timing raises questions.

What the state approved, and what it did not#

The state has cleared investigators to look at the allegation; it has not charged anyone. Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala said he granted sanction under section 17A of the Prevention of Corruption Act after taking legal advice. That clause requires government approval before an anti-corruption inquiry into a public servant's official decisions. The Times of India reported that the sanction was given on the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 3, after he consulted Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan. It was announced the next day.

"The allegations are serious and warrant a detailed probe," Chennithala said, as quoted by Hindustan Times. "The VACB director can decide the nature of the probe including whether to register an FIR." An FIR, or first information report, is the formal step that opens a criminal case in India.

Reports differ on how far the approval goes. Hindustan Times describes it as sanction for a preliminary probe, with the bureau's director to decide on an FIR. Onmanorama reports permission to register a case and conduct a formal investigation. No published order settling the point has been found, so this article treats the inquiry as preliminary.

Onmanorama also reported the legal advice behind the decision. G. Saseendran, the bureau's Additional Director General of Prosecution, advised that a case could be registered even though the events date to 2006. His opinion noted that statements made by a person who has since died can be admissible as evidence.

The allegation: a withheld payment and a bribe demand#

The complaint comes from V. O. Sajan, a supplier from Chadayamangalam in Kollam district. He worked as a sub-contractor on the upgrade of the MC Road under the World Bank-funded Kerala State Transport Project, or KSTP. The New Indian Express puts the project's value at ₹215 crore, for the stretch from Angamaly to Thiruvananthapuram. The main contractor was PATI-BEL, a joint venture of a Malaysian firm and Bhageeratha Engineering.

Sajan says Kumar, then the state's Public Works Department secretary, held back approved payments to PATI-BEL. He says Kumar sought a ₹2 crore bribe to release them. He says he heard this from Lee See Been, the consortium's chief project manager, whose name is also spelled Lee See Bin in some reports.

Sajan told Hindustan Times that Lee had described four payment checks worth ₹14 crore sitting uncleared on Kumar's desk. "Later, he told me that Kumar had sought a bribe of ₹2 crore in exchange for the bills being cleared." The Times of India, citing the written complaint, put the withheld bills at about ₹17 crore. The two figures have not been reconciled in public reporting.

Lee died by suicide in a park in Kuala Lumpur on Nov. 11, 2006, according to Hindustan Times. Sajan says PATI-BEL officials told him that Lee named Kumar in notes to his wife and to his supervisor. Chennithala has said publicly that the note mentions Kumar "very clearly." He has also said he has not personally seen it, according to ThePrint. The note's text has not been published. Its contents, and any link between the alleged demand and Lee's death, remain unverified.

Why the first inquiry matters most#

The central legal question is whether the state can reopen a matter it has already closed. Sajan's case rests on the claim that the first inquiry was flawed.

The New Indian Express reported on Oct. 6 that the bureau had pulled the original file by hand. A Special Investigation Unit opened it in January 2007. That preliminary inquiry ran for five years. It ended with a finding that no offense could be made out, and the state government ratified that finding. Officials told the paper they were checking whether a fresh probe would survive legal scrutiny. They said they would reopen the case only if they found a "glaring omission" in the earlier work. At that point, the paper's sources said, the first complaint had offered no new facts or documents.

Sajan's complaint is meant to fill that gap. Speaking outside the bureau's office in Muttathara on Nov. 9, he said the first inquiry recorded only statements that favored Kumar. "There is sufficient information available," he said, as quoted by The New Indian Express. "It was because of the absence of such an investigation that Gyanesh Kumar was not made an accused in the case."

He made a more specific claim to the Malayalam channel Twenty Four News on Nov. 10. He said PATI-BEL's chief commercial manager first gave a statement pointing to Kumar's role. He said the manager was called back four months later and changed it. In the New Indian Express account, Sajan said the manager was warned that his bills would not be cleared unless Kumar's name came out. He also said investigators never questioned people in Malaysia who attended Lee's funeral or read the note. He said he would hand over supporting documents at the next stage. None of these claims has been tested, and no official response to them has been reported.

1. 2006Kumar is PWD secretary as PATI-BEL upgrades the MC Road under the KSTP
2. Nov 11, 2006Lee See Been dies in Kuala Lumpur
3. Jan 2007Vigilance opens a preliminary inquiry file
4. After five yearsInquiry closed as no offense made out; state ratifies
5. Mar 15, 2024Kumar appointed Election Commissioner
6. Feb 19, 2025Kumar takes charge as 26th Chief Election Commissioner
7. Oct 3, 2026Congress worker Malayinkeezhu Venugopal files complaint
8. Oct 4, 2026Chennithala forwards it to the vigilance director
9. Nov 3, 2026Section 17A sanction granted on Sajan's complaint
10. Nov 9, 2026Sajan appears before the vigilance bureau

Source: Hindustan Times, The New Indian Express, ThePrint, Election Commission of India

Two complaints, one project#

There are now two complaints, and both concern the same project. The first came from Malayinkeezhu Venugopal, a Congress worker, on Oct. 3. He alleged that "external influence" had derailed the earlier inquiry. Chennithala forwarded it to the vigilance director, Manoj Abraham, the next day.

"The investigation will follow the evidence. No one will be prejudged," Chennithala wrote on X, as quoted by ThePrint. "Public accountability does not expire with time." The Times of India reports that Sajan's complaint will be examined as part of the preliminary inquiry into the KSTP allegations.

The fact that the first complainant is a party worker is a large part of the political argument. Sajan says he was a sub-contractor who knew Lee personally. The reports reviewed for this article do not identify any party affiliation for him.

The political fight around the probe#

Kumar is already at the center of India's sharpest political dispute. Opposition parties led by Congress allege irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision and want Kumar removed. ThePrint says more than 13 crore names were deleted from the rolls under his watch. The commission has opened another route back onto the rolls for some voters marked absent, shifted, dead or duplicate. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has offered a special session on the revision, while Opposition leader Rahul Gandhi wants an open debate with the prime minister.

Chennithala, a senior Congress leader, has not hidden his view of Kumar. "Gyanesh Kumar is only a tool of PM Modi and Amit Shah," he said, as quoted by ThePrint. "We are fighting against him. But this case is different." He said, "This is not a political vendetta," and called it his duty to forward a complaint that might disclose an offense.

Satheesan made the same case. "It is not political. There is no political vendetta," he told PTI Videos, as reported by ThePrint. "After getting the report from (the Vigilance), we will take action."

The state's BJP unit sees it differently. MLA B. B. Gopakumar said the delayed action "raises suspicion," according to The Hindu. He asked why the two fronts that have taken turns running the state never acted against Kumar before. He demanded that M. K. Muneer of the Indian Union Muslim League, the public works minister at the time, be made a co-accused. He also pointed to the party's call for a case against former Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, now Leader of the Opposition. "Whether it is Gyanesh Kumar, Pinarayi Vijayan or M K Muneer, anyone who has committed a wrongdoing should face the law," he said, as quoted by The New Indian Express. "There should be no double standards." No response from Muneer was found.

Who Gyanesh Kumar is#

According to his Election Commission profile, Kumar is a 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of the Kerala cadre. He trained as a civil engineer at IIT Kanpur. In the state, he served as Ernakulam district collector and as secretary in departments including Public Works and Finance Resources. In Delhi, he held posts in the defense and home ministries and later served as Secretary of Parliamentary Affairs and of Cooperation. He retired on Jan. 31, 2024, became an Election Commissioner on March 15, 2024, and took charge as the 26th Chief Election Commissioner on Feb. 19, 2025.

Hindustan Times reports that he was moved out of the PWD post after Lee's death and later went on deputation to the central government. Sajan presents that move as part of his account. The New Indian Express notes another reason the 2006 matter stalled: Lee had died and Kumar had left for New Delhi.

The bureau must decide whether to register a case#

The vigilance bureau must first decide whether it has enough to register a case. It is reviewing the 2007 file and taking statements, starting with Sajan's. Sajan says he can bring Lee's family, former PATI-BEL staff and other witnesses. That would put weight on evidence from Malaysia. It is not known whether investigators can obtain the suicide note or interview its recipients there.

Any FIR against a sitting Chief Election Commissioner would be politically explosive. So would a second decision to close the matter. The inquiry also unfolds as Parliament sits unprorogued for a record 88 days, with the opposition's campaign against the CEC still active.

Until investigators report, the allegations rest on one contractor's account of what a man who died in 2006 told him. That account is backed by his claims about documents not yet made public. Kumar has not responded to them in public. The first official review of the same events found no offense.

Research note#

This article draws on reporting by Hindustan Times, The Times of India, The New Indian Express, Onmanorama, ThePrint and The Hindu. It also uses a Twenty Four News report in Malayalam, translated for this article, and Kumar's official Election Commission profile. The sanction order, the complaints and the 2007 inquiry file have not been published. Kumar and the Election Commission have not commented, per the outlets cited. Federal campaign-finance and dataset tools on this site cover only the United States and do not apply to this story.

Differing perspectives

Should Keralam's vigilance bureau reopen a 2006 bribery allegation against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Apply the same standard to everyone

  Who holds it: Keralam unit of the BJP, including MLA B. B. Gopakumar

  Reviving a 20-year-old allegation just as the opposition campaigns against the CEC raises suspicion. The two fronts that have governed the state since 2006 never acted on it, despite Kumar holding senior posts under both. If the case is reopened, the minister in charge of public works at the time, M. K. Muneer, should be a co-accused, and others accused of wrongdoing should face the law too. There should be no double standards.

  In their words: The New Indian Express (quoting B. B. Gopakumar) ↗

• Let the inquiry follow the evidence

  Who holds it: Keralam's Congress-led government: Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala and Chief Minister V. D. Satheesan

  A complaint alleging that an earlier corruption inquiry was compromised by outside influence is serious and cannot be ignored because of who it names or how long ago the events took place. Ministers say they acted on complaints and legal advice, as they would for anyone. No one is prejudged; the vigilance bureau will decide whether a case is warranted. They reject the idea that the probe is linked to the opposition's campaign against the CEC.

  In their words: ThePrint (quoting Ramesh Chennithala) ↗

• Reopen a flawed first inquiry

  Who holds it: Complainant V. O. Sajan, a former sub-contractor on the KSTP road project

  The first inquiry recorded only statements that favored Kumar and ignored key evidence. A company manager's statement naming Kumar was later changed under pressure over unpaid bills, and people who read the engineer's note were never questioned. Enough information exists to examine Kumar's role properly. Sajan says he can provide documents and produce witnesses, including the engineer's family and former company staff.

  In their words: The New Indian Express (quoting V. O. Sajan) ↗

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