June 30, 2017
With the Malayalam actress kidnap case
taking twists and turns every day, the Congress party in Kerala on
Friday demanded a CBI probe into the case.
The party said the role of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's office in
the case should also be probed.
Senior Congress legislator P.T. Thomas said given the "seriousness" of
the twists and turns taking place every day in the case, only the
Central Bureau of Investigation probe would be able to bring out the
"real" truth behind the abduction of the young actress.
He said he was told that the office of Vijayan made a significant
intervention in the case.
Thomas expressed surprise at the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists
(AMMA) meeting on Thursday, in which three Left lawmakers, who were
also actors, took a stand directly opposite to their party's on matters
of women's rights and their safety and protection.
CPI-M backed Lok Sabha member and AMMA President Innocent, Kollam
legislator Mukesh and Left ally legislator K.B. Ganesh Kumar were
criticised by Thomas for attacking the media for raising pertinent
questions in the kidnap case.
"This clearly shows that things are not fair and they did not take any
favourable stand on the victim. We demand that the CPI-M and the Left
should come clean on whether they concur with these lawmakers," said
Thomas.
Thomas pointed out that state police chief T.P. Senkumar also on Friday
said that the probe should take place in a proper manner.
Senkumar said Additional Director General of Police B. Sandhya should
ensure that all the top officials were taken into confidence on the
probe.
"This statement itself shows that things are not fair. The very next
day after the incident, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gave a clean
chit and said there was no conspiracy in the kidnap. He said it was
done by a group of criminals," Thomas said.
"How can someone who is also the Home Minister make such a statement? I
was the first person to reach the place where the actress was kept as a
hostage. I raised this issue in the assembly and Vijayan appeared very
angry. Let the CBI probe, so the entire conspiracy, if any, would also
come out," said Thomas.
Meanwhile the Kollam CPI-M district committee has decided to seek an
explanation from Mukesh for his stand at Thursday's AMMA meeting which
was directly against the party's declared view and for his outburst
against the media.
State Public Works Department Minister and senior CPI-M leader G.
Sudhakaran told reporters that journalists should try and probe the
things happening inside the film industry.
"Things are very bad there. Things even worse than this kidnap will
come out from the film industry here and for that you should probe,"
said Sudhakaran.
Senior CPI-M leader, former Minister and Kannur Lok Sabha member P.K.
Sreemathi said AMMA "is a good organisation, but I doubt if they have
the mind of a mother".
"I doubt if they acted in the way they should have acted in this
episode. People are all watching everything. Maybe that's one reason
why a new organisation by the women in the film industry has taken
shape," said Sreemathi.
The stoic silence of superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal at Thursday's
press meet also has come under attack.
The Malayalam actress was kidnapped in February, and the incident has
created a huge row in the stat.
On Thursday, actor Dileep and his close friend and co-actor Nadir Shah
and his manager were questioned for 13 hours that in the case.