MALAPPURAM: Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan on Friday accused Higher Education Minister R Bindu of interfering in the probe into the mark list controversy involving SFI state secretary P M Arsho. He also alleged that Arsho forged the certificate and gave it to SFI leader K Vidya, who was recently booked for falsifying her credentials to get appointments in colleges.
“Even as the probe into the mark list incident is on, the minister has declared without proper evidence that Arsho is innocent. This has sparked concerns that she may be trying to influence the probe,” he told reporters in Malappuram after visiting the house of Razak Payembrote, a Left activist who died by suicide last week, in Pulikkal.
He said once the National Informatics Centre (NIC) releases its report, department heads review the results before publishing them on the Maharaja’s College website. “Didn’t the department heads notice Arsho’s name on the list,” he wondered.
Satheesan alleged the college principal was threatened by SFI to issue comments supporting Arsho. He said SFI had damaged the credibility of the state’s higher education sector.
“Some SFI leaders were allowed to write exams despite having less than 2% attendance. Arsho was responsible for forging the certificate and giving it to a woman SFI leader,” Satheesan said, while also accusing the Sanskrit University vice-chancellor of interference after an SC/ST cell report said reservation policies for PhD admissions were being undermined.
“However, the police are not taking action against such SFI leaders and the V-C,” he said. On the K-FON project, he said the Opposition’s allegation that cables imported and China and stamped with an Indian firm’s seal were used in it has been proven true.
“The chief minister refuted the claims and even the K-FON MD was made to say Chinese cables were not used. However, evidence is now emerging that the cable was brought from China. We do not raise allegations without proof. We have documents to prove the cables were purchased from China,” said the leader of the Opposition.