Former Kerala minister and CPM-backed independent MLA K T Jaleel has alleged that the Kerala Lokayukta, Cyriac Joseph—a former Supreme Court judge and Chief Justice of Karnataka High Court—intervened to help the prime accused in a nun murder case in Kerala.
Jaleel challenged justice Joseph to move legally against him for raising the allegation if it was baseless.
Jaleel was the higher education minister in the previous Pinarayi Vijayan ministry. He had to quit after the Lokayukta found him guilty of nepotism. This was widely considered to be the provocation for Jaleel to raise allegations against the Lokayukta.
Jaleel has previously raised allegations against Joseph.
Sources close to Justice Joseph said that he had already clarified that he visited the forensic science lab in connection with a training programme for judges while he was serving as Karnataka High Court chief justice. Moreover, the visit was months after the narco analysis report on the Abhaya case accused. Many other judges were also present with him during the visit.
Joesph had also recently made an indirect remark, believed to be in reference to Jaleel, saying "let the dogs keep on chewing bones. We have nothing to do with it."
Jaleel said on Tuesday that even as the allegations of Justice Joseph's interventions to help the main accused in the murder of sister Abhaya, Fr Thomas Kottoor, who is a relative of Justice Joseph, had surfaced earlier as well, Joseph was not denying it. Jaleel said that an official of the forensic science lab in Bengaluru where Fr Kottoor was subjected to narco analysis test had given a statement to the CBI regarding interventions of Justice Joseph.
Justice Joseph had no moral right to continue as Lokayukta and should either quit or initiate legal action against those who raised the allegations against him if the allegations were not true, Jaleel said.
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