Ex-CJI's wealth under scanner

KOCHI: There is no respite for Justice K G Balakrishnan, former CJI and present NHRC Chairman, from controversies.

Close on the heels of the A Raja episode, he has landed in trouble with allegations erupting over his assets. A CBI inquiry into the amassment of wealth by him is now on the cards. The CBI is awaiting a formal nod from the Registrar-General of the Supreme Court, which is a legal requirement, to launch a probe into his mysterious assets.

CBI sources have confirmed the receipt of a complaint against Balakrishnan by a Delhi-based journalist.

The journalist, in his complaint filed before the Vice-President’s office, alleged that the former CJI had amassed wealth disproportionate to his known sources of income.

The Vice- President’s office forwarded the complaint to the Union Home Ministry which in turn forwarded it to the CBI.

“We have received the complaint but no investigation has been launched. It will be launched only after getting an official nod. The Supreme Court Registrar-General is the competent authority to give sanction for the probe,” said sources in the Kerala unit of the CBI.

But, it is reliably learnt that a quick verification of assets of Justice Balakrishnan’s daughter K B Sony and her husband P V Sreenijin indicated that everything was not hunky-dory. Sreenijin, a KPCC member, has allegedly amassed wealth to the tune of several crores in the past four years.

Sreenijin, who had declared only assets worth Rs 25,000 in the affidavit filed in the 2006 Assembly polls (he was the Congress candidate from Njarackal,) now owns several prime properties, including a riverside plot of 2.5 acres at Annamanada in Thrissur.

He and his wife Sony have also acquired a flat in the city, a plum office space near the High Court and 25 cents of land at Elamakkara (in the suburbs of Kochi) where the construction of a bungalow is in progress. Both Sreenijin and Sony are practising advocates and don’t have any other known sources of income.

The state unit of the DYFI has also called for a detailed inquiry into the allegations and demanded the resignation of Justice Balakrishnan as NHRC chief.

The fresh controversy will land Justice Balakrishnan in a precarious position as he has already been under a cloud following Supreme Court Judge H L Gokhale’s revelation regarding former Telecom Minister A Raja’s bid to influence a Chennai High Court judge.