Wayanad DCC treasurer suicide: Court halts arrest of accused till January 15
The suicide note of Vijayan names four prominent Congress leaders as responsible for his suicide
The suicide note of Vijayan names four prominent Congress leaders as responsible for his suicide
The suicide note of Vijayan names four prominent Congress leaders as responsible for his suicide
The District Sessions Court, Kalpetta on Friday gave an oral direction to the investigation officer not to arrest the accused in the Wayanad bribe-for-job case till January 15 when the court will consider the case again. The direction was given while considering the bail petition of Wayanad DCC president ND Appachan and IC Balakrishnan MLA.
Sulthan Bathery police have registered cases against four Congress leaders, including N D Appachan, IC Balakrishnan, former DCC treasurer KK Gopinathan and former DCC president late P V Balachandran on charges of abetment of suicide of former Wayanad DCC treasurer N M Vijayan. The suicide note of Vijayan names four prominent Congress leaders as responsible for his suicide. The leaders named as accused in the case went absconding, fearing arrest, and an application for bail was moved in the court. K K Gopinathan had approached the High Court for bail while IC Balakrishnan and Appachan had filed bail petitions at the District Court at Kalpetta.
State Congress General Secretary KL Poulose said it was natural for the leaders to seek legal remedy as they fear political vendetta from the ruling party. "Though the case against them is weak, we should take preventive measures as the CPM would go to any extent to avenge the Congress leadership, which is on a war front against the corruption of CPM across the state," he said.
The Congress leaders have questioned the veracity of the letter claimed to have been written by Vijayan. The CPM has latched onto the issue and bribe-for-job scam and has demanded immediate arrest of the accused in the case. With the state government facing criticism over the delay in the rehabilitation of Wayanad landslide victims, the CPM has played up the scam allegations following the suicide of Vijayan and his son.
Vijayan's family had raised serious allegations against a section of Congress leaders of Sulthan Bathery that they had tried to portray that Vijayan ended his life because of family issues.