KALPETTA: I C Balakrishnan, MLA, has been booked in the case related to the suicide of Wayanad DCC treasurer N M Vijayan. The police have registered a case under the charge of abetment of suicide.
The MLA is the first accused in the case. Along with Balakrishnan, the police have also booked 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 had handed over the letters written by him to the KPCC leadership and the suicide notes to the police.
In the letters, Vijayan had stated that the suicide was due to financial issues and that he had incurred huge debt after availing loans for party purposes and also for returning the money taken from candidates after offering jobs in Congress-run cooperative banks.
Shocking details of the bribery that took place in the name of recruitment to Congress-ruling cooperative banks in Wayanad have emerged from the notes of Vijayan, who was the Wayanad DCC treasurer.
“We have booked P V Balachandran, Appachan, Gopinathan and Balakrishnan for abetment of suicide. They were booked based on the details and complaints mentioned in Vijayan’s letters as well as the statements of the victim’s family. The next step is interrogation of the accused. Other information could be confirmed only after the detailed interrogation and verification of facts,” said Abdul Shareef, Sultan Bathery DySP.
Meanwhile, the CPM has intensified protests demanding the resignation and arrest of Balakrishnan. A vigilance investigation is on into the Sultan Bathery Urban Cooperative Bank appointment bribery case.
Based on the contents of the letter, the Wayanad unit of the Vigilance team is also investigating the details of the money transactions done by Vijayan.
Vijayan and his younger son died by consuming poison on December 27. Vijayan stated in his letter that, using him as intermediary, Balakrishnan took money from various candidates offering them jobs in Congress-controlled cooperative banks.
The note also revealed that Vijayan’s son Jijesh was fired from his job in the bank to appoint someone else as per Balakrishnan’s wishes and that the leaders took a loan from Sultan Bathery Urban Cooperative Bank in his name.
Congress will cooperate with probe: Satheesan
Law will take its own course in the suicide of N M Vijayan, said Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan. He told reporters here on Tuesday that the party will fully cooperate with the police probe.
“The party will go forward with its own investigation. Once the probe report comes, the party will take a decision accordingly,” he said.
Arrest Balakrishnan: BJP
Meanwhile, the BJP demanded that I C Balakrishnan MLA step down. The MLA and the DCC president should be arrested immediately, said BJP state president K Surendran.