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Teacher attack: Opp stalls Kerala Assembly
The CPI(M)-led Opposition LDF on Friday stalled the proceedings of the Kerala Assembly demanding a CBI probe into Tuesday’s brutal assault on a school teacher in Valakam, Kottarakkara in Kollam district. The school is managed by former UDF Minister R Balakrishna Pillai who is presently in prison for corruption as per a Supreme Court order.
The pandemonium forced the Speaker to adjourn the House for the day. The Opposition also alleged that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was protecting Pillai. Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan alleged that Pillai had talked over the phone to Chandy, just like he had talked to a TV channel, from his hospital room despite the fact that he was a prisoner.
Trouble erupted in the House after Speaker G Karthikeyan refused leave for an adjournment motion on the attack on teacher Krishna Kumar. The Opposition rushed to the Well of the House and sat there in a dharna demanding a CBI inquiry. KR Geetha, the teacher’s wife and principal of the same school, had said that Pillai was the only enemy her husband had.
The Opposition demanded a CBI probe into the assault alleging that investigation by Kerala Police would not be impartial as there was possibility of intervention from Pillai and his son KB Ganesh Kumar, who was Forest Minister in the Chandy Cabinet. The Left wanted Chandy to keep Ganesh Kumar away from the Cabinet while the probe was on.
Pillai, under treatment at a private five-star hospital for Haemochromatosis, a condition of iron overload in blood, had on Thursday violated prison rules to talk to a television channel to respond to allegations of his involvement in the brutal assault on the teacher of his school. He was sent to jail on February 18 by the Supreme Court in a 1982 corruption case.
The Opposition wanted Chandy to explain whether he had talked to Pillai over the phone while he was in captivity for which the Chief Minister did not give a clear answer. This encouraged the LDF to accuse him of protecting Pillai, chairman of Congress-ally Kerala Congress (B), with help of Ganesh Kumar.
Replying to the notice for the adjournment motion, presented by CPI member Mullakkara Ratnakaran, Chandy rejected the allegation and said an impartial probe was already on into the incident by a special police team and an Inspector General was supervising it. He said cases could not be probed with political objectives in mind.
Chandy said it was wrong on the part of the Opposition to ‘identify’ culprits when investigation was progressing. “People behind the attack will be booked,” Chandy added. Following this, the Speaker refused leave for the adjournment motion. At this, the entire Opposition marched to the Well of the House shouting slogans against the Government.
Krishna Kumar, teacher of Rama Vilasam Vocational Higher Secondary School, named after the former Minister’s father Raman Pillai, was found in a critical condition with serious injuries all over the body late on Tuesday night at Valakam. He is presently under post-surgical intensive care at the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
The unidentified assailants had thrust a thick and sharp-ended iron rod, used for husking coconuts, up his excretory canal leading to extensive ruptures in his rectum, small intestine and other internal organs. His genitals had been crushed. He had suffered three fractures in the hip bone and there were injuries all over his body.
In his illegal telephone conversation with the television channel on Thursday, Pillai had tried to claim innocence and also to blame the teacher and his wife for humiliating him through allegations. The Additional DGP (Prisons) on Friday ordered a probe against Pillai over the use of mobile phone while in captivity.
A report said that a minimum of 40 calls had gone out from Pillai’s mobile phone on Tuesday, the day the teacher was attacked. The Opposition leader had alleged that Pillai could have organised the attack on the teacher from his hospital room by contacting people directly and using communication facilities.
The pandemonium forced the Speaker to adjourn the House for the day. The Opposition also alleged that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was protecting Pillai. Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan alleged that Pillai had talked over the phone to Chandy, just like he had talked to a TV channel, from his hospital room despite the fact that he was a prisoner.
Trouble erupted in the House after Speaker G Karthikeyan refused leave for an adjournment motion on the attack on teacher Krishna Kumar. The Opposition rushed to the Well of the House and sat there in a dharna demanding a CBI inquiry. KR Geetha, the teacher’s wife and principal of the same school, had said that Pillai was the only enemy her husband had.
The Opposition demanded a CBI probe into the assault alleging that investigation by Kerala Police would not be impartial as there was possibility of intervention from Pillai and his son KB Ganesh Kumar, who was Forest Minister in the Chandy Cabinet. The Left wanted Chandy to keep Ganesh Kumar away from the Cabinet while the probe was on.
Pillai, under treatment at a private five-star hospital for Haemochromatosis, a condition of iron overload in blood, had on Thursday violated prison rules to talk to a television channel to respond to allegations of his involvement in the brutal assault on the teacher of his school. He was sent to jail on February 18 by the Supreme Court in a 1982 corruption case.
The Opposition wanted Chandy to explain whether he had talked to Pillai over the phone while he was in captivity for which the Chief Minister did not give a clear answer. This encouraged the LDF to accuse him of protecting Pillai, chairman of Congress-ally Kerala Congress (B), with help of Ganesh Kumar.
Replying to the notice for the adjournment motion, presented by CPI member Mullakkara Ratnakaran, Chandy rejected the allegation and said an impartial probe was already on into the incident by a special police team and an Inspector General was supervising it. He said cases could not be probed with political objectives in mind.
Chandy said it was wrong on the part of the Opposition to ‘identify’ culprits when investigation was progressing. “People behind the attack will be booked,” Chandy added. Following this, the Speaker refused leave for the adjournment motion. At this, the entire Opposition marched to the Well of the House shouting slogans against the Government.
Krishna Kumar, teacher of Rama Vilasam Vocational Higher Secondary School, named after the former Minister’s father Raman Pillai, was found in a critical condition with serious injuries all over the body late on Tuesday night at Valakam. He is presently under post-surgical intensive care at the Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram.
The unidentified assailants had thrust a thick and sharp-ended iron rod, used for husking coconuts, up his excretory canal leading to extensive ruptures in his rectum, small intestine and other internal organs. His genitals had been crushed. He had suffered three fractures in the hip bone and there were injuries all over his body.
In his illegal telephone conversation with the television channel on Thursday, Pillai had tried to claim innocence and also to blame the teacher and his wife for humiliating him through allegations. The Additional DGP (Prisons) on Friday ordered a probe against Pillai over the use of mobile phone while in captivity.
A report said that a minimum of 40 calls had gone out from Pillai’s mobile phone on Tuesday, the day the teacher was attacked. The Opposition leader had alleged that Pillai could have organised the attack on the teacher from his hospital room by contacting people directly and using communication facilities.
