Two persons accused of misuse of authority by Swapna Suresh, former Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan and former higher education minister K T Jaleel, have trashed the charges against them.
Sreeramakrishnan said that he had never met the ruler of the Sharjah Emirate, Sultan bin Muhammad Al-Qasimi, alone. Swapna, in a sworn affidavit, had said that the former Speaker had requested her to arrange a personal meeting for him with the Sharjah ruler and that she had intervened to create such an opportunity for Sreeramakrishnan. She had even alleged that the former Speaker had bribed the UAE Consul General to get an audience with the Sharjah ruler for securing land in the emirate for an educational institution, Middle East College, he wanted to open.
Sreeramakrishnan said these charges were not new and the central investigating agencies had taken his statement earlier on the basis of these very charges. "I don't even have the personal number of the UAE Consul General on my phone. All this was verified by the agencies," he said and added: "Do you think I have grown so big as to bribe the Sharjah ruler."
K T Jaleel attempted to counter two charges levelled against him. One, all his illegal activities were carried out through a benami named Madhav warrier. Two, it was at his insistence that the Sharajh Sultan was given D.Litt (Doctor of Letters) by the Calicut University.
Jaleel said he was friendly with Madhav Warrier, a Mumbai-based businessman. He is from Thirunavaya (Malappuram), and has a Bala Mandiram there, Jaleel said. He said he also knew Warrier as a philanthropist who had constructed houses for free or for very low cost for those who had lost their houses during the 2018 floods.
Jaleel then hinted that Swapna dragged Warrier into the controversy because he had financial issues with Highrange Rural Development Society (HRDS), the RSS-backed NGO for which Swapna now works. Jaleel said it was Warrier's organisation, Warrier Foundation, that had constructed 200-odd houses for HRDS in Attappady. "After what happened now, I came to know that HRDS has still not paid the Warrier Foundation. The cheque they had given had bounced. Warrier had even filed a case in the Mumbai HC against HRDS," Jaleel said.
He said he had once, when he was minister, inaugurated a housing complex constructed by the Warrier Foundation. "Beyond that I have no relationship whatsoever with Madhav Warrier," he said.
As for the Sharjah's ruler's D.Litt, Jaleel said it was first mooted by the Calicut University Syndicate in 2014. "Abdul salam, who is now with the BJP, was the Vice Chancellor then. P K Abdu Rabb was the minister in charge," Jaleel said.
"All her (Swapna's) charges are like this. There will not be a shred of truth in them. There is no need to give any importance to them," Jaleel said. Nontheless, it was not clear whether both would move legally against Swapna.
