Thiruvananthapuram : In a disclosure that comes 15 years after a campus bomb blast, the Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala accused former Chief Minister Oomen Chandy for withdrawing the 2013 case that arraigned ABVP and RSS workers for hurling petrol bombs at MG College to kill cops including Circle Inspector back in 2005. Chennithala made the revelation at a press meet held in the capital on Monday.
The decision to withdraw the blast case came via Judicial Administration - a portfolio retained by Chandy as Chief Minster and serving as the state Home Minister, he had no knowledge of the on-goings, Chennithala told reporters. Adarsh the 17th accused in the case, is today staffed with the strategic Cyber Wing. - an appointment, Chennithala said, was an outcome of Chandy going out of the way in cronyism.
While Chennithala might have imagined the media exercise as a portrayal of his innocence, the truth is far from it.
Past Forward
Back in 2005, Museum CI Mohanan Nair was part of a huge posse of police who went MG college to suppress the clash between student factions. A bunch of ABVP and RSS leaning students suddenly hurled crude bombs at the police team, causing serious injuries to CI Monhanan. Following this, police barged into the college and unearthed a huge collection of weapons stocked there.
There were a total of 28 persons accused in the murder attempt, of whom, Adarsh was the 17th. In a bid to save him from conviction, the Chandy government in 2012 came up with a decision to withdraw the enitre case. Subsequently, the prosecution initiated steps to pull out the case.. After this, Adarsh was taken into police service after a string of rather unusual interventions. .
In the Assembly session of 2013, Attingal MLA B Satyan questioned the move in responsee to which Chennithala submitted a written reply. Chennithala's writing said, the government has decided to withdraw the case from humanitarian concern for Adarsh. There was great discontent among the police force over government’s decision and the odd justification given that, one of their own kind suffered near-death injuries and others wounded.
However, with Chief Minister Oomen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala going easy on a case involving ABVP activists, then police chief TP Sen Kumar - a BJP camp nominee - was only too willing to comply. And in 2013 the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court which registered the case subsequently closed the file. CI Mohan was incapacitated for nearly two years. Two Sub Inspectors and several policemen too sustained injuries in the blast.
