THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Crime Branch team probing the 2015 assembly ruckus case has sought legal opinion regarding arraigning two former Congress MLAs as accused in the alleged physical harassment of former LDF MLA Jameela Prakasam during the imbroglio in the house.
A legal opinion was sought on implicating M A Vaheed and K Sivadasan Nair as accused on a complaint filed by Jameela. Both the ex-legislators, meanwhile, said the Crime Branch is yet to record their statements regarding the case.
According to the complaint, the two Congress leaders, who were MLAs in 2015, misbehaved with Jameela, who was then an Opposition MLA, when she was protesting in the house against then finance minister K M Mani.
Jameela had filed a private petition with a magistrate court seeking the registration of a case against Nair. Following this, the court ordered the police to probe the complaint. However, the High Court stayed the proceedings on the basis of an appeal filed by Nair.
The Crime Branch team probing the case involving left leaders, including General Education Minister V Sivankutty, launched a follow-up investigation after obtaining the nod of the Chief Judicial Magistrate court. Apart from Sivankutty, Left leaders E P Jayarajan, K T Jaleel, K Ajith, K Kunhammad, and C K Sadasivan are the other accused in the case
Reacting to the development, Vaheed said the Crime Branch issued him a notice seeking a convenient time to record his statement, but the agency did not follow it up with any more action. “I told them to come at their convenience. They are yet to respond. The allegation is baseless. We were in the treasury bench and tried to resist the left MLAs from targeting then chief minister Oommen Chandy.” he said.
Nair said the move was to shield the Left leaders, including Sivankutty, and prolong the legal battle. “ The state government does not want to see the case come to an end during their reign,” he said.