Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that the United Democratic Front (UDF) government decided not to proceed against the State police officers who investigated the ISRO spy case in continuation of the decisions taken by the previous (Left Democratic Front) government.
Talking to the media after a special meeting of the Cabinet here on Tuesday, the Chief Minister said the previous government had made clear observations in the file against initiating disciplinary proceedings against the officers as recommended by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). (The CBI, which investigated the case, concluded that the charges against the accused were baseless and recommended action against the officers who framed the charges).
Mr. Chandy said he had no objection to examining the circumstances that led to the decision. He had received a letter from Congress legislator K. Muraleedharan seeking action against the police officers and he replied to him that the matter was being examined in detail.
Replying to a question, the Chief Minister said it was wrong to impute that the motive of Mr. Muraleedharan was to force reorganisation in the party. Mr. Muraleedharan was 100 per cent right in saying that A.K. Antony had no role in forcing the resignation of K. Karunakaran as Chief Minister over the spy case.
Mr. Chandy added that it was wrong (on the part of others) to have dragged the name of Mr. Antony into the controversy. However, Mr. Muraleedharan maintained a dignified stance while airing his views.
(Mr. Muraleedharan, who is the son of Karunakaran, demanded that the officers be not spared as they had tarnished the image of Karunakaran and the party and prosecuted innocents).
