A court in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday left in the custody of the police two senior journalists, accused in the case pertaining to a sting operation using the honey-trap route against senior NCP leader AK Saseendran and the telecast of an audio clip in which he was heard making lewd comments to a woman which had led to his resignation as Transports Minister in Kerala’s CPI(M)-led lDF Government.
Those sent to three-day police custody by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court 3 in Thiruvananthapuram for questioning and other procedures of investigation are R Ajithkumar and Jayachandran, respectively the CEO and Chief Reporter of the newly-launched Malayalam TV channel, Mangalam TV.
The television channel had telecast the taped phone conversation between Saseendran and a woman on the morning of March 26, the very day it was launched by describing it as their explosive inaugural break. Saseendran resigned as Minister within hours of the telecast of controversial tape but claimed that his resignation was not an admission of guilt.
Ajithkumar later effectively admitted through his TV channel itself that Saseendran was entrapped by an eight-member ‘investigation team’ of his channel.
It was also revealed that the woman whose voice was on the audio clip was not a complainant as he had claimed earlier but was an employee of the channel who was allegedly used to lure Saseendran into the trap.
The Kerala Police have registered a case with regard to the scandal against the channel’s CEO, chairman and seven of its employees including the woman staffer who had “entrapped” Saseendran. She has lodged a complaint with the police saying that Saseendran had harassed her continuously and made obscene comments to her over the phone.
Ajithkumar and Jayachandran faced a group of irate lawyers at the court when they were brought there on Friday. An effort was also made to rough them up but the police’s timely intervention averted further troubles. The two accused were to be brought before the court on Thursday but this did not happen due to a State-wide protest shutdown over another issue.
The allegation against Saseendran and his resignation had led to a crisis in the State NCP, which has only two members in the Kerala Assembly, and the lDF Government. However, businessman Thomas Chandy, the other NCP MlA, was sworn in as Minister in the place of Saseendran within six days of the latter’s resignation.