The Supreme Court on Friday sought response from Kerala government and others on a PIL filed by former chief minister V S Achuthanandan seeking a CBI probe into the ice cream parlour sex scandal.
A bench of Justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and C Nagappan issued notice to the state government, CBI and others contending criminal justice has been subverted in a systematic manner in this case that can be rectified only by ordering an independent probe.
“An attempt is being made to shield somebody. Young girls have been sexually exploited and to suppress the shocking incident, money has been exchanged. Unfortunately, the high court glossed over it,” senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the former chief minister, said.
“This is a shocking state of affair to say the least. I am afraid if this case does not warrant a CBI probe then which case will merit such kind of investigation,” he said, adding that even after lapse of a decade, the investigation has not moved.
He said that he would not like to disclose the names of the culprits including 22 public officials in the open court as it will be “embarrassing for the institution”.
The former chief minister approached the apex court against an order of Kerala High Court which had dismissed his petition seeking a CBI probe in the case allegedly involving Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty.
He claimed that ongoing SIT investigation was not sufficient. Achuthanandan had filed a petition in the high court stating that the investigation in the case following fresh disclosures made by K A Rauf, a close relative of Kunhalikutty, in 2011, was not done in the right manner and hence only a CBI probe could bring out the truth.
The former chief minister’s petition seeking CBI probe has been dismissed twice, first on September 27, 2011 and next on August 30 this year.
The alleged sex racket in the early 1990s involved an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode as its base and was termed the “ice cream parlour sex case” by the media. The ice cream parlour was allegedly used as a cover for running the sex scandal.