KOCHI: He may be a relatively unknown entity, but P S Baburam, the alleged benami of K Babu, is a well-known figure in the real estate circles.
Hailing from a modest family from Eruva, Kayamkulam, the 43-year old Baburam has been involved in some of the biggest real estate deals since early 2000.
Baburam was the Alappuzha district secretary of Youth Congress when he moved to Kochi in early 2000, starting his life in a rented house near Kumbalam. His swift growth is showcased in a collecion of premium apartment, luxurious cars, properties, pre-owned car showroom and big bank balances which Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau(VACB) VACB claims to be attained with the blessings of K Babu. He was a well known sponsor of political and religious functions. But, he still stays in the rented home at Kumbalam, according to persons in the know.
It was a quick transformation of Baburam from a district Youth Congress leader to an influential real estate dealer in Kochi that surprised the VACB probing the alleged disproportionate assets and wealth of former minister Babu. “Baburam started with small real estate deals and he made money cashing in on the property boom post-2003,” said a real estate watcher. A big property transaction for a UAE real estate major near Aluva in early 2000 propelled him into a different league and the commission for the transaction involved several crores.
A VACB official said in real estate business good amount is required in the form of initial investment. But Baburam was carrying out deals which required several crore. “He has claimed that some of his relatives helped him to arrange funds for starting the business. But we suspect that the funds were provided by K Babu. He was very close to K Babu. The arrangements for the election campaigning of K Babu was supervised by Baburam,” the VACB official said.
As per the preliminary details collected by the investigators, Baburam was involved in 41 land deals. The details submitted by VACB at Muvattupuzha Vigilance Court reveals that he had sold around 6.29 acre of land after entering the real estate business in 2006. VACB said that one of the land deal fetched him `3.61 crore. He made 22 land deals in Maradu, 14 in Tripunithura, two in Kareelakulangara and one in Baranikavu.
In Maradu he had sold 201 cents of land. In Tripunithura 329 cents, 89 cents in Kareelakulangara and 10 cents in Baranikavu. VACB suspects more land deals involving Baburam. “He had taken a loan of `1 crore and documents of the property presented before the bank did not include the list of landed property that he handed over to us during the probe. He claimed that his relatives in Oman had invested money in some of the land deals,” VACB official said.
V N Sasidharan, SP Special Cell, VACB, said they are collecting all the evidences against Baburam and using these evidences he would be interrogated. “Once interrogated we will get a clear picture about the case. But for the interrogation, we have to complete the initial stage of collecting the evidences and documents,” he said.
Baburam could not be contacted for comments.