No interference in cheating case probe: Chandy

Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy said Saturday there will be no interference in the probe into his former aides' alleged involvement in a cheating case.

"There will be no interference in the probe from any quarter. I have already made it clear that I will not run away and I will never blame others, but then let the probe continue and the truth will finally emerge," Chandy told reporters after his return from Bahrain.

Arriving early Saturday from Bahrain, where he became the first Indian to receive the prestigious United Nations Global Award for Public Service Thursday, the Kerala chief minister was mobbed by a huge crowd of people who had come to receive him.

A few hours later, there was a jolt for him as a court in Pathanamitta sent his former personal assistant Tenny Jopan, arrested Friday, to two weeks judicial custody for his alleged links with a con-couple, who cheated a businessman to the tune of Rs.4 million.

Jopan was arrested after a police probe team formed to probe more than a dozen cheating cases involving con-couple Saritha S. Nair and her former live-in partner Biju Radhakrishnan, identified Jopan's role in one case of cheating.

Jopan was asked to step aside by Chandy early this month after it was found out that the call details of Nair revealed that she had close contacts with Jopan, Chandy's gunman Salim Raj (now suspended) and another staff Jikumon Jacob, who resigned early this week).

The opposition Left however demanded Chandy step down.

"This is the first time in the history of the state that a staff member of the chief minister is being arrested in a cheating case. Chandy always speaks of transparency and see what is happening now in this case," said Communist Party of India-Marxist youth leader M.Swaraj.

The CPI-M top brass was meeting here to take stock of the situation.