THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The 'VIP link' drawn meticulously by Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan in the Kiliroor sex scam years ago and which had helped him to derive optimum political mileage in the CPM and in public, is all set to be edged out, as the CBI court here has rejected the plea to examine the angle in the course of the cross-examination of the victim’s father on Thursday.
The court rejected the plea to go into the 'VIP angle' in the case and order an investigation, citing that neither the charge-sheet nor the statement of witnesses contain any mention of a conspiracy or involvement of a VIP. At the same time, the court did not bar the prosecution from raising the point in the course of the trial.
The 'VIP' issue trumpeted by Achuthanandan soon after the visit of a few All-India Democratic Women's Association leaders, including P K Sreemathi, later health minister, to the Kiliroor girl at a private hospital near Kottayam after she gave birth to a child, had stirred a hornet's nest, eventually making it a hot campaign topic during the 2006 Assembly polls, over and above the sparks that flew within the CPM.
The other sex scam which pitchforked VS politically is the never-ending Ice Cream Parlour case. Though Achuthanandan never made a direct mention of the VIP in the Kiliroor case, he had succeeded in creating a suspense with lot of political overtones.
However, Achuthanandan left many unanswered questions on the ‘VIP’ issue even when he became Chief Minister later, though he maintained in the fag end of his tenure that his earlier promise to parade the torturers in sex scandal cases handcuffed in public will be fulfilled.
Eventually, with nothing of the sort materialising, both his adversaries in the party and outside floored him on a moral perspective. The political opponents of Achuthanandan were criticising all along that he was merely raking up the ‘VIP’ issue to apparently suit the general political climate and change the equations in the CPM to his favour.
Apart from Sreemathi, allegations against a son of Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had cropped up. A plea is pending in the CBI court for examining Kodiyeri as a witness in the case. In the event of a similar plea coming up for examining VS also, the case will have a different turn.
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