Thiruvananthapuram, May 11 (IANS): A court here on Monday told the vigilance department to go ahead with a lie detector test for the driver of whistleblower bar owner Biju Ramesh, who has alleged that bribe was paid to state Finance Minister K.M. Mani to reopen closed bars in the state.

Ramesh's driver Ambili was summoned by the vigilance court on Monday.

When the court asked him if he was prepared to undergo the lie detector test, he said he was ready. The court then asked the vigilance team to go ahead with it.

The scam surfaced in October last year when Ramesh, who owns nine bars in the state capital, revealed that Finance Minister Mani took a bribe of Rs.1 crore to reopen the closed bars in the state.

Ramesh had testified before the vigilance department that a portion of the money was handed over by a few bar owners at the minister's official residence in the capital in April 2012.

He said Ambili had driven the bar owners to Mani's house and was a witness to the money being handed over to the minister.

While Ambili agreed to undergo the test, the bar owners whose names were revealed by Ramesh have sought time till May 16 to inform the court about their willingness to undergo the lie detector test.