The Congress leadership in Ernakulam is in no mood to give up the fight against actor Joju George who, the party believes, spoiled what could have been one of the massive protests against fuel price hike in the country on November 1. The district Congress on Wednesday made a serious allegation against the actor, linking his protest against the party's agitation with a case pertaining to the death of two models in Kochi in a road accident the same day.
District Congress Committee president Muhammed Shiyas has sought a probe into whether Joju George had attended a DJ party in a posh hotel in which the models had participated. The district Congress leadership suspects that the entire Joju episode was aimed to cover up the incidents that led to the women's death.
“Right from the beginning our stance is that Joju's intervention in our strike was not accidental. We need a clarity on if it was intended to cover up something larger. Had Joju not created a ruckus at the protest venue, the death of the models would have been the most prominent news of the day,” Shiyas said.
He said the police investigation into the death of the models and their friend was not in the right direction. “There are several rumours about those who attended the party at No 18 Hotel in Fort Kochi. There is a lot of pressure on the police to close the case. The police waited for nine days even to collect the CCTV visuals from the hotel,” Shiyas said.
Eight Congress leaders, including former Kochi Mayor Tony Chammany had been arrested in connection with the November 1 incident in which agitated party workers vandalised Joju's car after the actor questioned the Congress for blocking a busy road in the name of protest against fuel price hike.
Models' death
The models, Ansi Kabeer and Anjana Shajan were heading to Thrissur after a late night party at No 18 Hotel, when their car crashed into the median after hitting a two-wheeler at Chakkaraparambu on the Vyttila-Edappally stretch of the bypass early on November 1. While the models were killed instantly, their friend Mohammad Ashiq died a few days later.
The hotelier, Roy Joseph Vayalat, was quizzed for 11 hours at the Ernakulam South Police station on Tuesday. Police had earlier retrieved Roy's WhatsApp message to the employee, asking him to destroy the visuals. The hotelier has not been arraigned as an accused in the case.
Satheesan seeks SIT probe
Leader of the Opposition V D Satheesan on Wednesday demanded that a special investigation team be formed to probe the death of the models. Speaking to reporters in Kozhikode, the Congress leader said the ongoing investigation was not satisfactory.
"The police have to thoroughly investigate what happened at the hotel before the fatal accident. It should come out who all were there at the hotel. We have got information that certain incidents had happened at the hotel the night before the death of the models," Satheesan said, without going into the details.
