The prison department has ordered an inquiry into jailed Kerala Congress (B) leader R. Balakrishna Pillai’s telephonic conversation with the media from a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram.
Mr. Pillai, who was shifted to the hospital for treatment a few days ago, landed in trouble after he spoke to a TV reporter on Thursday about the attack on a teacher.
Krishnakumar, a teacher in a higher secondary school managed by Mr. Pillai at Valakam in Kollam district, was brutally attacked by unidentified persons on Wednesday.
Opposition LDF immediately seized the issue alleging that use of phone by Mr. Pillai involved violation of jail rules.
According to official sources, the Prison Welfare Officer has been asked to inquire into the issue.
Mr. Pillai had spoken to the reporter on condition that he would not be quoted as he was not supposed to speak to the media over phone since he had been undergoing imprisonment. The channel, however, aired the telephonic talk.
Mr. Pillai was sentenced to one-year imprisonment by the Supreme Court in February last in a corruption case dating to the 1980s when he was Electricity Minister in the Congress-led UDF government.
