R Balakrishnan Pillai held Guilty in Idamalayar Dam Corruption Case

In a first for Kerala, the Supreme Court convicted a former minister of Kerala, R Balakrishnan Pillai in Idamalayar dam corruption case and sentenced him to one-year imprisonment. A bench of justice PS Athasivam and BS Chauhan reversed the Kerala high court verdict acquitting ex-power minister R Balakrishnan Pillai and two others in the decades-old Idamalayar dam corruption case. Idamalayar dam corruption case was first filed in 1991 and is related to the inappropriateness in procedures followed while awarding contracts for the construction of the Idamalyar dam in Idduki district in 1982. At the time when the contracts were awarded Balakrishnan Pillai was state power minister. The bench found Pillai guilty of having caused the Kerala State Electricity Board a loss of Rs 2 crore by awarding contracts at inflated rates.

Balakrishnan Pillai heads a splinter group of the Kerala Congress, the Kerala Congress (B).