Sting claims sex racket case was sabotaged

Charges flew in all directions on the third day after the Kozhikode icecream parlour sex scandal received a sensational revival. 

A TV report has even pointed the finger of suspicion on former high court judges in hushing up the case in favour of Indian Union Muslim League leader and former UDF minister P K Kunhalikutty. 

It was “India Vision,” the television channel chaired by IUML leader M K Muneer, which dropped yet another bombshell on Sunday afternoon.

Spilling the beans

A sting operation carried out by the channel saw former additional director-general of prosecutions K C Peter “spilling the beans” on how the case was sabotaged in favour of Kunhalikutty.

Peter was seen claiming in the report that he had guided K A Rauf, then a close aide of Kunhalikutty, to bribe Justices Narayana Kurup  and K Thankappan, who were then High Court judges to get favourable verdicts.

 As reported, it was a belated “whistle blowing” by Rauf which has now reopened the case that was dismissed by the higher courts in 2006. “Had these judges not intervened then, the fate of Kunhalikutty would have been different today,” Peter says in the report. However, Peter has since denied he had said so in the sting operation.  

Both Narayana Kurup and Thankappan have dismissed the charges saying they did nothing of that sort. Kurup, who had heard a plea to ask the CBI to probe the sex scandal case said that there was no chance of bringing the CBI into the picture. “The CBI does not investigate sex scandals and besides the people who were involved in it were top leaders,” Kurup said justifying his order to reject the plea.

Relations between Dr Muneer who heads “India Vision” channel and Kunhalikutty have not been quite cordial for a long time now. In fact, Rauf had claimed in his “revelations” on Friday that Kunhalikutty had asked him to seek out information on Muneer’s “escapades” and tarnish his image. 

Reacting to the revelations, IUML secretary and MP E T Mohammed Basheer alleged that the documents which had come out now have all been forged by Rauf.

He said the party has resolved to mobilise all its efforts to stop such irresponsible reports (sting operation) from the media. 

Meanwhile, CPI leader Meenakshi Thampan who chaired the Assembly committee which inquired into the icecream scandal has said that Kunhalikutty had tried to influence her. “I also found that we were denied the key files by the government and this was decided by the then chief minister E K Nayanar’s office,” she said. “Also, JSS leader K R Gowri Amma who was a member of the committee persuaded us to drop the case,” she said.
 
The police have registered a case against Kunhalikutty and Rauf  for influencing witnesses to change their affidavits. Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said at Kasargod that efforts of the police would be to unravel the truth and, based on it, to move forward.