Know more about your Home Minister and his Son

published on September 19, 2009

Goonda, Bineesh were seen at trouble spot: Ex-principal

PNS | Thiruvananthapruam

Infamous goonda Om Prakash, who was 15th accused in the sensational Paul Muthoot murder case, and Bineesh Kodiyeri, son of Home Minister and CPI(M) Politburo member Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, were regular visitors to the campus of University College in Thiruvananthapruam during the days of violence in the college in 2001, former college principal S Varghese said.

A report quoted Varghese, who was also a former member of the Human Rights Commission, as saying that Kodiyeri Balakrishnan and CPI(M) leaders T Sivadasa Menon (former minister) and V Sivankutty (presently an MLA) had spoken to him in harsh language when they visited him in his room in the college on September 27, 2001, the day violence erupted in the college.

On Thursday, Opposition leader Oommen Chandy had alleged in the State Assembly that Kodiyeri had got Om Prakash released in connection with the violence in cllege in 2001 but the Minister had challenged him saying he was ready to tender his resignation if Chandy could prove the allegation.

The former principal said that his efforts to make the campus clean (of violent political elements) had provoked the SFI, the CPI(M)’s students’ outfit. Om Prakash used to be sighted there during that period, he said. He also said that the SFI had secret bases in the campus. He said he was certain that Om Prakash had always been in the forefront of the gangs that had regularly been seen there. Bineesh Kodiyeri too used to be there, the report quoted him as claiming.

The former principal remembered that the violence on the particular day had taken place on the road outside the college campus and that Bineesh was there in the gang. The Cantonment Police had registered a case regarding this and this case was withdrawn only recently, he said.

The trouble had started over issues connected to the refusal of admission to certain candidates recommended by the SFI, Varghese said. Following this, the college authorities sought police assistance. The police entered the campus and examined a room which had been used exclusively by for several years. Several weapons were seized from this room, he said. The former principal said the violence had worsened following this incident.

The trouble-makers were arrested that day and Kodiyeri and others had reached the campus to meet him, Varghese said. The team of political leaders spoke harshly to him for calling the police into the campus, he said. Sometime after they were gone, Inspector General of Police Hemachandran withdrew the police without consulting the college authorities, Varghese said.

This incident was followed by a bomb attack on the house of Varghese at Thaikkad in the capital city. The college was closed for several days following this. On the particular day, Kodiyeri had also created a scene at the campus by entering the police vehicle that was taking the arrested trouble-makers away, Varghese remembered.

The CPI(M) and SFI had so far claimed that Om Prakash had no connection with them. The DYFI had said that it had expelled Om Prakash from the organization after his nature was found inappropriate. Still, the Congress and the BJP had continued with their allegation that Om Prakash was a goonda with known connections with the CPI(M) and its feeder outfits.

Youth Congress president M Liju had even gone to the extent of accusing Bineesh Kodiyeri of providing shelter for Om Prakash, a goonda figuring in the Wanted list of the police for the past several years. he said that Bineesh had been protecting Om Prakash in Dubai. However, the Minister’s son denied the allegations, saying he might have seen Om Prakash but had never even spoken to him.

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