Kunhallikutty’s Sex scandal: Kerala HC calls for case diary

The Kerala High Court on Monday asked the State police to submit the case diary and other records relating to the investigation into the infamous ice cream parlour sex scandal in which Muslim League’s leader and State Industries Minister PK Kunhalikutty was allegedly involved.

A division bench of the court comprising Chief Justice J Chelameswar and Justice PR Ramachandra Menon also ordered issuance of notices to the State Government as well as the CBI while considering a petition filed by Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan seeking orders for a probe by the Central agency into the 15-year-old sex scandal.

The court called for the case diary and other records saying that it wanted to be convinced about the allegations raised by Achuthanandan. The Opposition leader had filed the petition last Friday saying that a CBI probe into scandal was necessary as the probe by a special police team had effectively been frozen with the change in government.

The counsel for Achuthanandan argued that the probe by a special investigation team of the Kerala Police had failed to do justice to the case and that the team had not made any progress in the seven months of the investigation. He also said that the investigation had almost been frozen. The court posted the case to September 22 for detailed arguments.

The Advocate General who appeared for the Government countered the arguments of Achuthanandan’s counsel saying the investigation by the special police team, constituted by the former LDF government, was progressing in the right direction and that there had been considerable progress in the probe after the new Government took charge in the State.

The Government counsel said that the special probe team had recorded statements of a total of 82 witnesses and had collected about 50 new documents relating to the case. As many as 42 of the 82 witnesses were added to the list after the new Government took charge, he said, adding that no change had been made to the special probe team.

The police said the documents relating to the case would be presented to the court in a sealed envelope. Police commissioner P Vijayan, Superintendent of Police (Kannur) Anup Kuruvila John and DySP (Thamarassery) Jaison Abraham, members of the special investigation team, were present in the court on Monday.

The former LDF government headed by Achuthanandan had launched the SIT probe into the infamous sex scandal in January last after businessman KA Rauf “revealed” that Kunhalikutty had bribed the sex abuse victim to change her statement against him and had earned favourable verdicts from the Kerala High Court by bribing two former judges.

Rauf, also a close relative of Kunhalikutty, claimed that he had documental evidences to prove the charge as he himself was involved in several of the illegal acts for the Minister. Kunhalikutty was pushed into further trouble after a TV channel telecast a video-clipping showing a senior lawyer endorsing Rauf’s statement on the bribing of the former judges.

Kunhalikutty is accused of sexually abusing Kozhikode native Rejina, then a minor girl, at three different places in 1996. He was forced to resign as industries minister in the previous UDF government in the face of State-wide protests after Rejina openly alleged through a televised statement that Kunhalikutty had abused her sexually.

Kunhalikutty is facing other serious charges, the latest being the one that appeared in some WikiLeaks documents. According to WikiLeaks, his party colleague and Minister MK Muneer had told US diplomats that Kunhalikutty had been helping Islamist outfit NDF. A Thrissur court is to issue its verdict on a petition accusing him of illegal wealth amassment on Tuesday.

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