With just a day to go for the Lok Sabha polls, the Nadakkave police in Kozhikode city have registered a case under the Prevention of Corruption Act against M.K. Raghavan, the United Democratic Front candidate in Kozhikode.
This follows a directive from State Police Chief Loknath Behera to A.V. George, District Police Chief, on a complaint lodged by P.A. Mohamed Riyas, campaign committee secretary for A. Pradeep Kumar, Left Democratic Front candidate.
It had been alleged that Mr. Raghavan sought a kickback to purchase land to set up a hotel in Kozhikode city when reporters of TV9 Bharatvarsh, a Hindi news channel approached the MP posing as staff of a consulting firm. Mr. Raghavan had denied making any such remark and sought a probe into the episode, claiming that his voice had been dubbed.
The State Director General of Prosecution recently gave a go-ahead to the police to file a case against the MP. The probe is expected to begin on Tuesday.
MP’s reaction
Mr. Raghavan said in a release that the case had been registered without the permission of the Election Commission of India.
He claimed that the official machinery was under the control of the poll panel once the election dates were announced. However, the government misused the police to target him, Mr. Raghavan alleged. “I leave it to the people and the judiciary to pass a verdict,” Mr. Raghavan added.
