Chandy gives media clean chit, apologises for intelligence report

Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy Wednesday apologised for references in an intelligence report that said a section of the media was favouring Tamil Nadu in the water sharing dispute between the two states.

"I express my apologies to the media after a probe by the state chief secretary has given a clean chit to the media," said Chandy to reporters after the weekly cabinet meeting.

Last week, Chandy asked Chief Secretary E.K. Bharath Bhushan to conduct a probe into an intelligence report that alleged some journalists had an "unholy nexus" with a Tamil Nadu government "mole".

The "mole", a Malayalee from the capital city, was in the employment of the Tamil Nadu government and passing to it vital information about Kerala's stand in a water dispute in cahoot with media persons, the inteligence report said.

Managing director of newspaper "Kerala Kaumudi" M.S. Ravi, managing editor of "Malayala Manorama" Philip Mathew, and managing editor of "Mathrubhumi" P.V. Chandran, in a joint letter to Chandy, demanded a probe into the intelligence report, that had alleged involvement of some journalists from these three media houses.

"The probe has been done in the proper manner and it has come to light that no journalists were linked (to the leakage of information). It must be noted, however, that intelligence reports are mere pointers and could be right or wrong. The intelligence did their job," Chandy said.

As soon as the intelligence report came last month, Chandy rubbished media reports that the Tamil Nadu government employee was a spy in the state secretariat and had been passing on vital documents on the water sharing dispute between the two states.