KALPETTA: Congress MLA I C Balakrishnan has been booked as the accused in the case related to the suicide of Wayanad District Congress Committee (DCC) treasurer N M Vijayan.
The police have registered a case under the charge of abetment of suicide. The Sulthan Bathery MLA is the first accused in the case. Along with Balakrishnan, the police have also booked current Wayanad DCC president N D Appachan and Congress leader K K Gopinathan as co-accused.
A special investigation team led by Sultan Bathery DySP K K Abdul Shareef is investigating the case. Recently, Vijayan's family handed over the letters written by Vijayan to the KPCC leadership and the suicide notes to the police.
In the note, Vijayan had written that he was taking the extreme step as the loans he had taken for the party's activities had become a huge burden and that he was unable to appoint persons for jobs at the Congress-run cooperative banks.
Shocking details of the bribery that took place in the name of recruitment to the Congress-ruling cooperative banks in Wayanad have emerged from the notes of Vijayan, who was the Wayanad DCC treasurer.
"Police booked the accused based on the details and complaints mentioned in Vijayan's letters. The next important step is interrogation of the accused. Other information could be confirmed only after the detailed interrogation and verifying the facts," Abdul Shareef, Sultan Bathery DySP.
Vijayan, 78, and his son Jijesh, 38, a former employee of the Sulthan Bathery Urban Cooperative Bank, succumbed at Kozhikode Government Medical College, on December 28, after attempting suicide.
The investigation team has now booked Balakrishnan and other Congress leaders as accused in the case even as the CPM has intensified the protests demanding the resignation and arrest of the MLA.
(If you are having suicidal thoughts, or are worried about a friend or need emotional support, someone is always there to listen. Call Sneha Foundation - 04424640050 (available 24x7) or iCall, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences' helpline - 02225521111, which is available Monday to Saturday from 8 am to 10 pm.)