Congress seeks CBI probe into Kerala actress kidnap case

With the Malayalam actress kidnap case taking twists and turns every day, the Congress party in Kerala on Friday demanded a CBI probe into the case.

The party said the role of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's office in the case should also be probed.

Senior Congress legislator P.T. Thomas said given the "seriousness" of the twists and turns taking place every day in the case, only the Central Bureau of Investigation probe would be able to bring out the "real" truth behind the abduction of the young actress.

He said he was told that the office of Vijayan made a significant intervention in the case.

Thomas expressed surprise at the Association of Malayalam Movie Artists (AMMA) meeting on Thursday, in which three Left lawmakers, who were also actors, took a stand directly opposite to their party's on matters of women's rights and their safety and protection.

CPI-M backed Lok Sabha member and AMMA President Innocent, Kollam legislator Mukesh and Left ally legislator K.B. Ganesh Kumar were criticised by Thomas for attacking the media for raising pertinent questions in the kidnap case.

"This clearly shows that things are not fair and they did not take any favourable stand on the victim. We demand that the CPI-M and the Left should come clean on whether they concur with these lawmakers," said Thomas.

Thomas pointed out that state police chief T.P. Senkumar also on Friday said that the probe should take place in a proper manner.

Senkumar said Additional Director General of Police B. Sandhya should ensure that all the top officials were taken into confidence on the probe.

"This statement itself shows that things are not fair. The very next day after the incident, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan gave a clean chit and said there was no conspiracy in the kidnap. He said it was done by a group of criminals," Thomas said.

"How can someone who is also the Home Minister make such a statement? I was the first person to reach the place where the actress was kept as a hostage. I raised this issue in the assembly and Vijayan appeared very angry. Let the CBI probe, so the entire conspiracy, if any, would also come out," said Thomas.

Meanwhile the Kollam CPI-M district committee has decided to seek an explanation from Mukesh for his stand at Thursday's AMMA meeting which was directly against the party's declared view and for his outburst against the media.

State Public Works Department Minister and senior CPI-M leader G. Sudhakaran told reporters that journalists should try and probe the things happening inside the film industry.

"Things are very bad there. Things even worse than this kidnap will come out from the film industry here and for that you should probe," said Sudhakaran.

Senior CPI-M leader, former Minister and Kannur Lok Sabha member P.K. Sreemathi said AMMA "is a good organisation, but I doubt if they have the mind of a mother".

"I doubt if they acted in the way they should have acted in this episode. People are all watching everything. Maybe that's one reason why a new organisation by the women in the film industry has taken shape," said Sreemathi.

The stoic silence of superstars Mammootty and Mohanlal at Thursday's press meet also has come under attack.

The Malayalam actress was kidnapped in February, and the incident has created a huge row in the stat.

On Thursday, actor Dileep and his close friend and co-actor Nadir Shah and his manager were questioned for 13 hours that in the case.

--IANS

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