2015 Assembly ruckus: Crime Branch to book 2 Congress ex-MLAs

Thiruvananthapuram: The Crime Branch team probing the 2015 Kerala Legislative Assembly ruckus case has decided to arraign two former Congress legislators too.

M A Vaheed and K Sivadasan Nair will be booked on the charges of preventing and attacking certain women legislators in the assembly. 

With this, the list of accused in the infamous case, which till now featured only the Left leaders, will include some Congress names as well.

The move comes amidst allegations that the police sought a reinvestigation in the case over seven years after the incident in a bid to entrap the United Democratic Front leaders as well.

The fresh probe was sought and granted by the court on a complaint by the Left women legislators that the UDF MLAs, who had been part of the ruling front then, were omitted from the case despite unleashing violence. 

Accordingly, Vaheed and Sivadasan Nair are now being arraigned, with charges of preventing and attacking legislator Jameela Prakasam. 

However, the Congress leaders will be spared of the charges of damaging public property – an offence that the Left legislators face. If the UDF approaches the court against the move, it may further prolong the trial in the case and offer a breather to the LDF government.

The case pertains to the violent episodes that unfolded in the Kerala Legislative Assembly on March 13, 2015, when the then Opposition LDF legislators disrupted then Finance Minister K M Mani from presenting the budget following allegations of the latter’s role in the bar bribery case.

Current Education Minister V Sivankutty, Left leaders E P Jayarajan, K T Jaleel, K Ajith, K Kunjahamad, and C K Sadasivan are named as accused in the case for unleashing violence in the assembly and causing property damages to the tune of Rs 2.20 lakh.