‘A Cong min wanted to trap Kurien in Suryanelli scandal’

Thiruvananthapuram: In his book ‘Nirbhayam’ former DGP and former state information commissioner Siby Mathew throws enough hints that

Thiruvanchoor

Radhakrishnan, the home minister in the Oommen Chandy government in 2013, played a major role in keeping alive the allegations against veteran Congress leader and Rajya Sabha deputy chairman P J Kurien in the Suryanelli sex scandal.

Siby Mathews

, who has the reputation of an honest officer, hints Thiruvanchoor was upset with P J Kurien over his efforts in New Delhi to anoint the then KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala as the state home minister.

The Supreme Court, in 2013, had directed the high court to re-examine evidence in Suryanelli sex scandal and issue a fresh verdict against the accused who had been earlier let free.

The officer, who had led the team investigating the case, recalls that fresh reports pointing at Kurien’s involvement in the case began to crop up in media soon after the verdict. Though Kurien was among those who were named by the minor girl who was brutally raped by 39 persons in 1996, the inquiry by the special team acquitted him pointing out that there was no evidence to prove his involvement.

A section of activists tried to revive probe against Kurien on the basis of SC verdict in 2013 and Siby Mathews, in his book, hints that the group war in Congress led to the move.

“Before the dust settled down, a retired SP came out with a big exposure. He claimed that he had wanted to arraign Kurien as an accused during the probe, but, Siby Mathews sabotaged the case by excluding Kurien,” Mathews notes in the book. “It was a minister who brought him to channel room. A minister who was afraid that his portfolio would be stolen by a Harippad native,” he continues without naming Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan and Ramesh Chennithala. The SP he refers to is K K Joshua who was part of the probe team but had later fallen out with Mathews.

Mathews also alleges that a Malayali MP who was controlling a channel and another MP who led the panel probing the 2G scam were also part of the conspiracy. Though Siby Mathews doesn’t name the MPs, hints take the reader to Congress MP PC Chacko, the chairman of the parliamentary committee, probing the 2G scam and independent Rajya Sabha MP Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who has controlling stakes in a leading Malayalam news channel.

The exclusive interview of prime accused Dharmarajan, who repeated Kurien’s involvement, aired by a newly launched channel in 2013, has been dubbed by Mathews as a technique to increase TRP.

Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan dismissed the allegations as “baseless and laughable”. “The rivalry between Siby Mathews and K K Joshua has led to the circulation of such nonsense stories,” he told reporters in Kottayam.