Kochi : In a rather dubious development, the official looking into complaint against Deputy Minister For External Affairs, V Muraleedharan, for allegedly violating protocols, has been transferred. The officer hauled out of investigations is Joint Secretary to External Affairs Ministry, Arun K Chaterjee who has been replaced by Joint Secretary at the Ministry’s Passport Division, Adarsh Saivak.
The curious shuffling comes amid orders for official inquiry on how a Kochi based PR agency manager, Smita Menon, made her attendance at an overseas meeting of foreign ministers and high-ranking officials from across 22 countries. The transfer appears designed to derail the probe given that, it has been effected soon after the Prime Minister’s Office(PMO) asked the External Affairs Ministry for a report on V Muraleedharan’s alleged protocol violation in the incident.
The probe is based on complaint made by Lokthantrik Janata Dal leader, Salim, stating that in the ministerial meeting of 2019 held in Abu Dhabi, the Union Deputy Minister V Muraleedharan had violated protocols to facilitate the presence of a lady on visit visa there. He also pointed out that the woman, Smita Menon, was not an delegate or representative in official capacity from India.
