THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: With assembly elections around the corner, Kerala's Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)-led government appears to have grabbed the sensational Kozhikode ice-cream parlour sex scandal case as a possible election issue.
The case of sexual abuse on a minor girl, which involved former state industry minister and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader PK Kunhalikutty, was closed by the courts in 2006.
The alleged sex racket worked with an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode as its base, giving the scandal its name.
Now it is back in the headlines and the CPI-M is not letting the opportunity go.
The state home minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said on Saturday that the government is looking into the various aspects of the case to see if a re-investigation can be done.
The case became the most talked about issue in the media over the last two days after Kunhalikutty, general secretary of the Congress ally IUML, engaged in a war of words on Friday with his relative K A Rauf (their wives are sisters) over the scandal.
The case involved the girl Regina, who alleged that she was sexually exploited by the then minister in the early 1990s.
Kunhalikutty, a witness in the case, had to step down as minister in January 2005 following an opposition onslaught and a series of media reports after Regina went on repeating what happened to her.
Rauf on Friday alleged that Kunhalikutty was able to walk scot free in the case by influencing the judiciary and the witnesses and that he (Rauf) has documentary evidence to prove this.
A few hours before Rauf's disclosure, Kunhalikutty had revealed that he faced a threat on his life from Rauf.
The standoff between the two relatives appeared to have come as a club to hit back at the Congress-led opposition, which has been breathing down the neck of the Left government and state Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan.
The minister said on Saturday that the disclosures made by Rauf is of a serious nature.
"In the light of the seriousness of the disclosure, we are now looking into the various aspects to see if a re-investigation can be done in the controversial case," said Balakrishnan.
Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan has already said if need be, a re-investigation can be done.
Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary C K Chandrappan said on Saturday that there should be no let down and the case should be re-opened.
"The disclosures are of a criminal nature and hence it should be investigated again," said Chandrappan.
But state Congress president Ramesh Chennithala said that he sees a conspiracy behind this issue resurfacing now.
"This is a concerted effort to tarnish the image of the Indian Union Muslim League and this is not going to affect the United Democratic Front in any manner," said Chennithala Saturday.
Leader of opposition Oommen Chandy, who is on his statewide yatra (march) said that the statement made by Rauf does not contain anything new.
"You should note that the entire investigation in this case took place when CPI-M leader E K Nayanar was the chief minister. The courts also have closed this case," said Chandy.
Meanwhile the then director general of prosecution Kallada Sukumaran reacted by saying that the legal advice was given that Kunhalikutty can be prosecuted.
"People like the then political secretary to Nayanar, P Sasi, and few others did not like that advice. There is a possibility even now for a re-investigation," said Sukumaran.
Indian Union Muslim League leader P K Kunhalikutty caused a sensation when he claimed at a press conference on Friday that his estranged brother-in-law K M Rauf had engaged some criminals from Mangalore to finish him off. He not only hinted at the possibility that Rauf was fabricating a CD to defame him but also regretted that he had gone out of the way to help him while he was in power. Sooner than later, Rauf who was his right hand man, until they fell out a year ago, said that in the infamous ice cream-parlour case, Kunhalikutty had influenced the witnesses and the judiciary to save his skin. He also claimed that he had documentary evidence of how he himself, at Kunhalikutty’s behest, got an agreement signed by a key witness in the case so that she did not go back on her statement.
A news channel has telecast portions of the agreement signed by Rejina, who had initially alleged that Kunhalikutty had sexually exploited her. It was in 1997 that the case involving Sreedevi, who used an ice-cream parlour in Kozhikkode, as a front to run a flesh trade racket was exposed at the initiative of a women’s welfare organisation. Rejina, one of the victims of the racket, named the Muslim League leader as one of those who exploited her. Her statement was recorded before a magistrate. Lo and behold, her statement was again recorded before another magistrate, when she denied point blank the involvement of Kunhalikutty. Neither the then LDF nor the subsequent UDF government showed any interest in either arresting Kunhalikutty or pursuing the case to its logical culmination.
True, Rauf’s statement cannot be taken at its face value. But the evidence he has produced corroborates the widely-held belief that political power was misused to derail justice in the case. It is a well-known secret that witnesses like Rejina and Bindu, who lived in shanties, suddenly became so prosperous that they could build large houses. Many people associated with the case have now come out in the open with assertions and allegations that various forces were at work to scuttle the case. However welcome registering a case against Rauf for threatening Kunhalikutty may be, the matter should not end there. Justice demands that all those who influenced witnesses, policemen and officials through money and muscle power are also brought to book.
KOCHI: Congress today came out in support of the beleaguered IUML leader, P K Kunhalikutty, against whom his close relative had raised serious allegations, with KPCC President, Ramesh Chennithala stating there was a conspiracy behind the charges being aired now, while Opposition leader in the assembly, Oommen Chandy, felt there was nothing new in the revelations.
Chennithala told reporters here that the party saw a 'conspiracy' in the allegations being levelled against the top leader of IUML, a front partner of the Congress-led United Demcoratic Front (UDF), when the state polls were round the corner.
Since the past few days, efforts are on weaken the IUML from various quarters, Chennithala alleged adding Congress will not support such efforts.
Chandy told reporters at Alapuzha that there was nothing new in the allegations against Kunhalikutty. These allegations have been discussed earlier. Kunhalikutty himself has said an enquiry can be ordered into the allegations, Chandy said.
Kunahlikutty's co brother-in law, K A Rauf had sought to raise a political storm by stating before the media that the IUML leader had spent crores to scuttle the infamous Ice Cream Parlour sex case, which had rocked Kerala politics, by influencing the victims and witnesses in the case.
Kunhalikutty had earlier stated that there was a threat to his life from Rauf, who was trying to blackmail him.
Meanwhile, CPI leader Annie Raja today said the state government should take initiative and immediately order a comprehensive re-investigation into the Ice Cream case.
The allegations raised point to an illegal nexus between the executive, judiciary and politicians and this would have serious repercussions in the socio-political arena, she told reporters here
KOZHIKODE: Police have registered case against IUML state general secretary P K Kunhalikutty and his co-brother K A Rauf for forcing the victims in the ice-cream parlour sex racket case to retract their statements.
Town Police registered the FIR (59/2001) in the case and have started the investigation following the news appeared in the media after the news conference by Kunhalikutty and Rauf. There was allegations that Rauf and Kunhalikutty asked two witnesses in the case to retract their statements in which they named the IUML leader. Cases have been charged against both for conspiracy, forgery, influencing witnesses, among others. Police took the action ostensibly after a direction in this regard from the Home Department. City Police Commissioner P Vijayan will supervise the probe.
