Thiruvananthapuram: Chief minister V D Satheesan said K A Ratheesh, the first accused in the Kerala state cashew development corporation (KSCDC) corruption case, resigned from his key govt positions after the state govt directed him to step down.The CM’s remarks came days after the high court questioned how Ratheesh was allowed to continue in senior govt posts despite facing prosecution in the CBI case.Ratheesh, a former MD of the cashew corporation, had been serving as secretary of the Kerala khadi and village industries board, managing director of the Kerala state rural women’s electronics industrial cooperative federation Ltd. (RUTRONIX), and chief executive officer of the Kerala khadi workers’ welfare fund board.Satheesan said the govt had earlier issued a general direction asking officials facing similar legal proceedings to relinquish key public positions. “Even before this, we had requested everyone holding such key positions to resign. A circular had been issued asking them to step down. They did not resign then. Now, the resignation has been submitted,” he told reporters.The CM said the govt had opted to seek resignations rather than immediately dismissing such officials. “We could have removed them but we showed basic courtesy. The issue of prosecution sanction in the CBI case is presently before the high court. We had already granted sanction and informed the court that it could take an appropriate decision. Even before that, immediately after the court’s observations, we sought his resignation, and he submitted it,” Satheesan said.CBI is investigating alleged irregularities in the import of raw cashew by the corporation between 2006 and 2015. According to the agency, violations of procurement norms caused losses amounting to several crores of rupees to the corporation. The agency has named Ratheesh as the first accused in the case, while INTUC state president R Chandrasekharan is the third accused. The CBI has already filed its chargesheet before the competent court.
