Cong MP retracts statement on bribing judge

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Under pressure from his party over his `anti-judicary' remark, Congress MP K Sudhakaran retracted his earlier statement that he was witness to a Supreme Court judge being bribed in a bar licence case years back.

In a somersault, Sudhakaran told a television channel that he had not seen the judge taking bribe, but had definite information that the money was given to a judge by bar owners to get a favourable decision in the bar licence case.

However, television footages of his Kottarakkara speech telecast by channels last week showed him saying that he was witness to an apex court judge taking bribe.

Sudhakaran's statement sparked a raging controversy and he found himself virtually isolated in his own party with Congress leadership distancing from his statement.

Acting on his claim, a case was registered against Sudhakaran in a police station here on the charge of concealing the facts about a wrong-doing he witnessed.

There had been sufficient indications that Sudhakaran was under severe pressure when he stated at a press meet yesterday that `my intention was not to attack judiciary, but to express concern over unhealthy trends among certain sections of judicial officers.'

He also said he would be writing to Congress president Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh explaining his position though nobody had so far sought any explanation from him.

Sudhakaran made his controversial speech at a public meeting in Kottarakkara last Saturday where he claimed that he was witness to the bribing of a Supreme Court judge in a bar licence case years back.

Sudhakaran, who represents Kannur in the Lok Sabha, made the claim without naming the judge at a function organised to extend moral support to Kerala Congress-B leader R Balakrishna Pillai, who was recently sentenced to one year imprisonment by the Supreme Court in a corruption case.