THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The family of J S Sidharthan, the second-year student of the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Pookode who was found hanging in the hostel after being tortured by SFI activists, expressed resentment over the delay in CBI taking over the probe. His father T Jayaprakash said the delay was meant to save the accused and added that the state government issued the notification consenting to CBI probe just to silence the family.
The state government issued the notification on March 9 and a missive was sent to the Centre on March 16 informing it about the state’s willingness to hand over the case to the agency. However, the government sources maintained that there was no delay from their part and it was the central agency that’s delaying the probe.
Meanwhile, the Opposition parties have criticised the state government alleging that they were slow pedalling the procedures required for CBI’s takeover of the case. Opposition Leader V D Satheesan accused the state government of delaying things so that the evidence can be destroyed before the CBI arrives.
NDA Thiruvananthapuram candidate Rajeev Chandrasekhar alleged that the case file has not yet been sent to the CBI. “The case file could have been transferred to the CBI within 24 hours of the announcement,” he added.