THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Cutting across party lines, all members joined together on the floor of the Assembly to condemn the Taliban model attack on T J Joseph of Newman College, Thodupuzha.
The demand by Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy to probe whether there was any lapse on the part of the police in giving security to Joseph and that by Thodupuzha MLA P J Joseph to probe into the terrorist connection of the incident were readily accepted by Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
``A special team led by Muvattupuzha DySP is probing the case. The inquiry is being supervised by Ernakulam Range IG B Sandhya,'' said Kodiyeri.
The Minister said that two vehicles were taken into custody and two people were being interrogated in connection with the attack on T J Joseph at Muvattupuzha. Raising a submission in the Assembly, Babu Paul of CPI said that there were complaints that the police had ignored the apprehensions of Joseph's family that there would be attack against him.
P J Joseph, who also served a notice for submission on the same issue, echoed the same view.
Opposition leader Oommen Chandy, who intervened in the debate, said that there was some mysterious aim behind Sunday's attack on Joseph.
``I suspect it was a move to destroy communal harmony in the State,'' said Chandy.
In his reply, Kodiyeri requested all political parties to condemn the inhuman act. ``Talibanmodel attack won't be allowed in the State. Highest punishment will be ensured to the culprits,'' said Kodiyeri. The demand of K M Mani for an apology from Education Minister M A Baby who reportedly described the controversial college teacher as an idiot at a function in Kozhikode on Saturday created some noisy scenes in the Assembly. Baby clarified that he described the controversial question paper set by Prof. Joseph as `idiotic' and didn't call the lecturer an idiot.
