The Kozhikode Judicial First Class Magistrate Court on Saturday posted to March 4 the petition moved by Communist Party of India [CPI(M)] leader V.S. Achuthanandan against the report filed by a special police team that probed the allegations made by K.A. Rauf, businessman, in the Kozhikode ice cream parlour sex scandal case.
The team, led by Jaison K. Abraham, former Deputy Superintendent of Police, Thamarassery, in its final report in 2012, had stated that it had not obtained sufficient evidence to charge-sheet any person, including former Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty, on the allegations that the accused had entered into a conspiracy, influenced the victims by offering money, forged documents, and destroyed evidence to win the case in 2006.
Now, the court will have to consider the petition moved by V.K. Raju, a lawyer, seeking to implead as a party in the case. However, this was opposed by N. Bhaskaran Nair, counsel for Mr. Achuthanandan, stating that “the petitioner is only a dummy set up by persons in the case who are likely to be accused.”
The Kerala High Court had dismissed a petition filed by Mr. Achuthanandan seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into the allegation that the case had been sabotaged. But the Supreme Court had observed that the magistrate considering the final report had the authority to order further investigation.
The ice cream parlour case was reopened based on a new revelation by Mr. Rauf, a relative of Mr. Kunhalikutty, during the fag end of Mr. Achuthanandan’s tenure as Chief Minister in 2011.
