THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Buoyed by its success in the local body elections, the LDF is preparing to take the battle to the rival camp after the state government was put on the defensive over a slew of controversies in the past five months. According to sources in the state police, the vigilance department is likely to record the arrest of Congress legislator and former health minister VS Sivakumar in a disproportionate assets case within a month.
The investigating officer in the case, the vigilance special cell SP, was summoned to the state police headquarters a couple of weeks before the elections, sources said. The officer is learnt to have handed over a document that allegedly put Sivakumar in the dock. The agency had earlier charged him with amassing wealth illegally and stacking money in the name of close associates when he was in office, from 2011 to 16.
Further, the CBI investigating officer in the Periya twin murder case met the State Police Chief on the election counting day, raising suspicion over the transparency of the investigation. The state has been opposing a CBI probe into the Periya murder case and the investigation was handed over to the central agency in the first week of December even as the Supreme Court rejected the state’s plea against the move. The CBI SP visited State Police Chief Loknath Behera between 6pm and 7.30pm on Wednesday.
Police sources said the CBI SP’s visit was unnecessary especially when the case has been handed over to the central agency considering the plea of the victims’ parents, who said they have no confidence in the state police investigation. Although CBI officers can collect details from the investigating officer with the local police, the CBI SP’s visit to the police headquarters raises questions of institutional and individual integrity. Reports have also emerged that the state government will consider recording the arrest of former minister K Babu and quizzing Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala in connection with the bar bribery case.
Meanwhile, CPM acting state secretary A Vijayaraghavan said the party is unaware of such a development.“I don’t know whether the state police have made any deliberate attempt to target the members of Opposition parties. The party has no information about such a move,” he said.
The vigilance have already arrested former public works minister V K Ebrahim Kunju on charges of corruption in the construction of the decommissioned flyover at Palarivattom in Kochi. The special investigation team of the crime branch had arrested IUML leader and Manjeshwar MLA M C Kamaruddin in connection with the Fashion Gold investment scam.