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Brutal attack on teacher of ex-Minister’s school in Kerala
A teacher of a school in Kerala’s Kollam district, managed by former UDF minister R Balakrishna Pillai, was on Wednesday admitted to the hospital in a critical condition with injuries to internal organs and hip bone suffered in a brutal attack by unidentified assailants.
Preliminary reports said that a thick iron rod, used for coconut-husking, had been thrust up the excretory canal of Krishna Kumar, teacher of the Ramavilasam Vocational Higher Secondary School, named after Pillai’s father, at Valakam in Kottarakkara, Kollam.
The police registered a case for attempt to murder. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who also hold Home portfolio, said that a special team under the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Kottarakkara would investigate the incident. Sources said the indications were that the attack was carried out by hired hoodlums.
Doctors at the medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, where Krishna Kumar underwent a four-hour major surgery, said his hip bone had fractures at three spots and that his internal organs including the rectum and small intestine had been ruptured. They said his testicles had been badly pounded and the excretory canal had been torn severely.
Krishna Kumar’s wife KR Geetha, principal of the same school, said he had no enemies other than Pillai and the school management. She said Pillai, presently in jail for corruption, had threatened her husband several times in connection with her promotion as school principal on the basis of a court order, which was against the former minister’s wishes and interests.
“Pillai used to tell my husband that he would destroy him ,” said Geetha. “He used to tell my husband that I might be having the required seniority but it was not up to him to decide whether I should be the principal. Pillai had also told him that things happened in his school as per his desire,” she added.
Krishna Kumar was found in a critical and unconscious condition at Valakam late Tuesday night and was brought to the Thiruvananthapuram hospital on Wednesday morning. Doctors said he was at the post-surgical critical care ward and that he had not regained conscience till late Wednesday evening.
Aisha Potti, CPI(M) MLA from Kottarakkara, said there should be a comprehensive probe into the incident. She said that allegations were being raised against the management at several levels and this increased the seriousness of the matter. “I firmly believe that highly-placed people could be behind this,” she said.
However, police sources said that they had received no indications to link the incident to Pillai. Problems and court cases between staff and managements of schools were not uncommon and no inferences could be drawn from such issues in a case like this, they said. “We cannot jump into conclusions,” said a senior official.
Angry local residents forcefully closed the school on Wednesday afternoon and the Marxist party observed a hartal in Kottarakkara. He was sent to the Central Prison
in Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram on February 18 after the Supreme Court convicted him in a corruption case of 1982. His son KB Ganesh Kumar is Forest Minister in the Chandy Government.
According to Geetha, said Pillai and others in the management were angry towards her and Krishna Kumar for spoiling the chance of their nominee for the post.
She said Pillai had done everything he could to block the appointment.
“He had told us that I would not get that job even if I took the case to the Supreme Court,” Geetha said. “I was not allowed to take charge as principal even after I got the Education Department’s approval for my promotion. We had complained to the police about this but no help had come,” she said.
Preliminary reports said that a thick iron rod, used for coconut-husking, had been thrust up the excretory canal of Krishna Kumar, teacher of the Ramavilasam Vocational Higher Secondary School, named after Pillai’s father, at Valakam in Kottarakkara, Kollam.
The police registered a case for attempt to murder. Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, who also hold Home portfolio, said that a special team under the Deputy Superintendent of Police in Kottarakkara would investigate the incident. Sources said the indications were that the attack was carried out by hired hoodlums.
Doctors at the medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram, where Krishna Kumar underwent a four-hour major surgery, said his hip bone had fractures at three spots and that his internal organs including the rectum and small intestine had been ruptured. They said his testicles had been badly pounded and the excretory canal had been torn severely.
Krishna Kumar’s wife KR Geetha, principal of the same school, said he had no enemies other than Pillai and the school management. She said Pillai, presently in jail for corruption, had threatened her husband several times in connection with her promotion as school principal on the basis of a court order, which was against the former minister’s wishes and interests.
“Pillai used to tell my husband that he would destroy him ,” said Geetha. “He used to tell my husband that I might be having the required seniority but it was not up to him to decide whether I should be the principal. Pillai had also told him that things happened in his school as per his desire,” she added.
Krishna Kumar was found in a critical and unconscious condition at Valakam late Tuesday night and was brought to the Thiruvananthapuram hospital on Wednesday morning. Doctors said he was at the post-surgical critical care ward and that he had not regained conscience till late Wednesday evening.
Aisha Potti, CPI(M) MLA from Kottarakkara, said there should be a comprehensive probe into the incident. She said that allegations were being raised against the management at several levels and this increased the seriousness of the matter. “I firmly believe that highly-placed people could be behind this,” she said.
However, police sources said that they had received no indications to link the incident to Pillai. Problems and court cases between staff and managements of schools were not uncommon and no inferences could be drawn from such issues in a case like this, they said. “We cannot jump into conclusions,” said a senior official.
Angry local residents forcefully closed the school on Wednesday afternoon and the Marxist party observed a hartal in Kottarakkara. He was sent to the Central Prison
in Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram on February 18 after the Supreme Court convicted him in a corruption case of 1982. His son KB Ganesh Kumar is Forest Minister in the Chandy Government.
According to Geetha, said Pillai and others in the management were angry towards her and Krishna Kumar for spoiling the chance of their nominee for the post.
She said Pillai had done everything he could to block the appointment.
“He had told us that I would not get that job even if I took the case to the Supreme Court,” Geetha said. “I was not allowed to take charge as principal even after I got the Education Department’s approval for my promotion. We had complained to the police about this but no help had come,” she said.
