Leader of the Opposition V S Achuthanandan has alleged that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy is misleading the public with the statement that the High Court did not pay heed to his version on Kadakampally land grabbing case. He was addressing a campaigning meeting for Mathew T Thomas, the LDF candidate for Kottayam LS constituency, here on Saturday.
VS said the court pronounced the judgment on the case after conducting a detailed hearing. “Earlier, the court had made gentle remarks when the case came up before it. And, when the victims pleaded for a CBI inquiry into the case, the court conducted a detailed hearing of both the complainants and respondents and became convinced on the facts in the case. It is shameful that Oommen Chandy was trying to mislead the people by claiming that the court did not hear his version, even after this. Some might even believe his false claims,” he said.
He alleged that Salim, the former gunman of Oommen Chandy and an accused in the case, used his influence for committing the crime. “Using his influences, Salim appointed his wife as the revenue official at Kadakampally to change the records of the lands owned by the residents of the area. Receiving a huge amount as bribe, they changed the original records for the benefit of the swindlers. The victims approached the court when they were denied justice from the CM,” he said. He criticised the state and Centre for their anti-people policies. “The commoners, farmers, teachers, government officials and labourers were thrown into severe crisis owing to price rise,” he said.
He said the UDF would turn against farmers in the case of Kasthurirangan issue after the elections. He lauded Mathew T Thomas for his dedicated efforts in revamping the KSRTC, during his term as the Transport Minister. “It was a laudable decision from his part to use his commission on buying new buses to book another set of new vehicles,” he said.