Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told the Assembly on Wednesday that there were no double standards in the investigation in cases against CPI (M) leader M.M. Mani and Congress leader K. Sudhakaran.
Responding to Opposition criticism during the debate on the demands for grants for Industries, the Chief Minister said special investigation teams had been appointed to inquire into the accusations in both the cases in a similar manner.
When the Opposition raised objections about the team leader investigating the accusations against Mr. Sudhakaran, the government replaced him. It acted in the same way regarding the team investigating the twin murder case in Malappuram district also.
Mr. Chandy said the Vigilance case against former Chief Secretary John Mathai was withdrawn as the government had taken a policy that officers should not be implicated in corruption cases merely because they were members of director boards of companies that took the decision. They would be proceeded against only if they had direct involvement in implementation of the decisions or corruption.
Replying to criticisms made by Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan in this regard, Mr. Chandy noted that Mr. Mathai was appointed Chief Secretary, and later chairman of RIAB, when Mr. Achuthanandan was the Chief Minister. The case preceded the appointments.
Home Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said the accused remaining to be arrested in the Aneesh Raj murder case were not Congress workers. When Deputy Leader of the Opposition Kodiyeri Balakrishnan contended that the Minister had earlier given a written reply that they were Congress workers, Mr. Radhakrishnan said he would examine how the error crept in.
Mr. Balakrishnan noted that the police were yet to register a case against Mr. Sudhakaran.
