The Kerala High Court on Friday rejected Opposition leader VS Achuthanandan’s plea for a CBI probe in the ice cream parlour sex scandal in which senior Muslim league leader and Industries Minister PK Kunhalikutty had been allegedly involved. Achuthanandan will now approach the Supreme Court with the same plea.
A High Court bench comprising Chief Justice Manjula Chellur and Justice Vinod Chandran said that the request for a CBI probe could not be entertained at this stage as the police had already filed the investigation report in the concerned Magistrate court in Kozhikode. The bench said that Achuthanandan could approach the trial court if he wanted a follow-up investigation.
Achuthanandan had sought a probe by an independent agency like the CBI into the case in the context of the stunning disclosures made by businessman KA Rauf, a close relative and former aide of Kunhalikutty in January, 2011 that the Minister had sabotaged the ice cream parlour sex abuse case with his political clout and money. The case pertained to the alleged sexual abuse of minor girls based at an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode. The allegation against Kunhalikutty was that he had sexually abused Rejina, a minor girl then, at three different locations in 1996. Kunhalikutty was forced to resign as minister in 2004 after Rejina herself divulged this through television channels.