Palmolien, ice-cream cases: Breather for Oommen Chandy, Kunhalikutty
The high court on Tuesday stayed the order by the Thiruvananthapuram Vigilance Special Court against Chief Minister Oommen Chandy for a further probe into the palmolien case.
It also dismissed the plea for a CBI probe against Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty in the ice cream parlour sex scandal case.
In the palmolein case, Justice K.T. Sankaran imposed the stay for a month on a petition filed by Jiji Thomson, a former civil supplies MD and fifth accused in the case, against a court order.
The court also asked for the final report filed by the investigating officer acquitting CM, and other related documents on the probe.
A division bench comprising Chief Justice J. Chelameswar and Justice P.R. Ramachandra Menon rejected Opposition leader V. S. Achuthanandan’s plea for a CBI probe into the fresh allegations raised by Kunhalikutty's relative K.A. Rauf against the minister in the sex scandal case. The court would also monitor the progress of the case.
“There is no need at the moment to hand over the case to CBI. It is difficult to say that investigation is in a frozen stage. Petitioner cannot cite any concrete instance alleging lack of investigation,” the court observed.
During the course of the trial Chief Justice Chelameswar said there should be a specific allegation instead of general apprehension.
The court also observed that the present government has not changed the SIT constituted by the previous government headed by the petitioner. So the court cannot state that the investigation is not
progressing.
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