THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The State Government on Friday asked the Lok Ayukta to withdraw all cases registered against V A Arun Kumar, son of Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan, as a Vigilance inquiry has been ordered against him.
Following the receipt of the letter, the Lok Ayukta decided to consider the request from the government on June 16.
The Lok Ayukta had registered case against Arun Kumar during the tenure of the previous LDF Government. The then Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy had written a letter to the then Chief Minister Achuthanandan urging him to launch a probe into the foreign trips made by his son. Chandy also requested the Chief Minister to conduct a detailed inquiry into the allegations that Arun Kumar was given out of turn promotion in IHRD and he submitted fake certificates at the time of his PhD registration. Achuthanandan had handed over the letter from Chandy to the Lok Ayukta for an inquiry.
However, this led to a controversy as there were conflicting views on whether the Lok Ayukta has the jurisdiction to conduct a probe against Arun Kumar or not. Even Chandy had demanded a police probe.
The last Cabinet meeting decided to hand over all the allegations to the Vigilance Department to conduct a detailed inquiry. Sources said that the Vigilance team would be decided in a day or two.