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Forgery case: evidences point to Shobhana's role

By Our Staff Reporter

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM Nov. 14. The Crime Branch claimed that a copy of the forged intelligence letter implicating the Tourism and Fisheries Minister, K. V. Thomas, in a Rs. 336-crore hawala deal was delivered to the Surya Television office for broadcast purposes in a sealed cover on June 24 by Praveen, a close associate of the Thaniniram reporter, R. Jayachandran, and another person who was yet to be identified.

At a press conference here today, the SP (Special Investigation Team), K. Natarajan, said Praveen was a former student of the Adoor Engineering College and friend of Jayachandran since 1998. He said that Jayachandran had intervened with the police on behalf of Praveen when the latter got involved in a student clash at the college.

Mr. Natarajan said the Crime Branch was probing the antecedents of Praveen who figured as accused in some crime cases registered at Neyyatinkara and Vellarada. He said efforts were on to trace Praveen who is believed to be absconding.

Mr. Natarajan said that Mr. Jayachandran told the Crime Branch that he had called Surya TV reporter, Anil Nambiar, on cell phone on June 23 posing as an Intelligence Dy.SP. The call was made from Jayachandran's cell phone using a pre-paid SIM card (98471-31057) he purchased during the April-May period.

Mr. Natarajan said that Jayachandran called Anil at his house again at 8 a.m. on June 24 using the same SIM card. He said both the calls were made from Shobhana George MLA's house and the agency was in possession of call data records to prove this.

Mr. Natarajan said the Crime Branch was yet to recover the cell phone and SIM card which Jayachandran said was in the possession of a ``family friend'' also close to Ms. George. He said the calls using the SIM card had suddenly stopped after Surya TV broadcast the existence of the purported intelligence note on June 24 evening. Mr. Natarajan claimed that there was evidence to prove that the SIM card was used only by Ms. George, her daughter, Remya, and Jayachandran.

Mr. Natarajan said that Jayachandran had sought two days time to ``state who had forged the document, when and where''. He said that Anil Nambiar had again identified the voice of Jayachandran as that of the ``Intelligence Dy.SP'' who called him on the telephone.

According to the SP, Jayachandran was admitted to a hospital in Nagercoil after he ``absconded'' from Ms. George's house when the Crime Branch team had arrived there to arrest the MLA's private secretary, Anil. P. Sreerangam, recently. Mr. Jayachandran was visiting various temples in Tamil Nadu and on November 5 he reported sick at a private hospital in Kochi from where he was discharged on December 12.

A senior Crime Branch official later clarified that the agency had initially suspected two persons having close links with the former journalist, Chandramohan, to have delivered the letter to Surya TV office. Both were questioned for four days at the Crime Branch office at Muttada. But the Surya Television receptionist, Bindu, had now conclusively identified Praveen as one of the couriers, he said. The official said Praveen was present all along with Jayachandran when he was under treatment at the General Hospital. Moreover, the Crime Branch had ``source information'' on Praveen's alleged role as a courier, he said.

The official said the ``IMIE coding'' built into cell phones had helped the Crime Branch identify the instrument from which the calls were made to Surya TV reporter, Anil Nambiar. The IMIE coding enabled us to identify the instrument from which the calls were made irrespective of the SIM card used. The same cell phone was used for making calls from the regular SIM card number 98470- 66344 which has been traced to one of the suspects in the case'', he said.

The official said that cell phone call data records also contain information regarding from which tower a particular call had emanated. This allows the agency to ascertain the approximate location from which the calls were made.

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