The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to Kerala Government and CBI on a plea by former Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan to hold a CBI probe into the infamous ice cream parlour sex scandal involving top politicians of the State.
After the demand was dismissed by the Kerala High Court in August this year, Achuthanandan approached the apex court stating that this case merited an independent enquiry as the State police entrusted with the probe was trying to shield the accused among whom one is a sitting Minister in the State.
“See the seriousness. Young girls were sexually exploited and to suppress the exploitation, money was paid. Unfortunately, the high court glossed over it,” said senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, who represented the former Chief Minister.
Fresh revelations by the Minister’s brother revealed how girls were taken to select locations where they were sexually abused by the accused who included politicians and police officers. But despite the disclosures, Naphade pointed out that no action was initiated against the Minister PK Kunjhalikutty and high profile accused. “This is an attempt to shield somebody,” Naphade said, pressing for CBI probe.
The bench of Justices Ranjana Prakash Desai and C Nagappan sought responses from the State Government, CBI and other accused on the petition which alleged criminal justice had been subverted in a systematic manner in this case for which an independent probe was essential.
The senior advocate said he does not want to disclose the names of the culprits in the open court as it will be “embarrassing for the institution”.
The alleged sex racket in early 1990s involved an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode as its base and was flagged the “ice cream parlour sex case” by the media. The ice cream parlour was allegedly used as a cover for running the sex scandal.
Since then, the case has been vigorously taken up by Achuthanandan and it was dismissed by the Supreme Court which gave a clean chit to Kunhalikutty, an Indian Union Muslim league (IUMl) leader, in 2006. Though Kunhalikutty never became an accused in the case, he had come under a cloud in the wake of the scandal and even had to quit the Ministry then.