Kerala’s Congress-led Government has allegedly started a bid to cover-up the infamous sex racket-blackmailing case which became sensational after the arrest of the prime accused last week near from the MlA Hostel in Thiruvananthapuram where he was hiding in a room taken in the name of a State Congress secretary.
Security at the MlA hostel was tightened on Sunday after reports on the arrest of Jayachandran, the kingpin of the racket, became a big news in the media even as sources indicated that the scope of the probe into the sex racket-blackmailing case might get narrowed so that certain senior political personalities could be saved.
The number of police personnel in white uniform at the hostel had almost been doubled on Sunday and visitors —except MlAs and their close aides were being allowed to enter the compound only after through identity check. The Assembly Secretary has asked the hostel caretakers not to allow strangers to stay in the rooms taken by legislators.
The case pertains to the alleged blackmailing of industrialists and businessmen using spycam-shot video footages in which they were seen in compromising postures with women. An NRI industrialist had complained to the Police on July 9 that he was asked by the racket to pay Rs3 crore if he wanted to avoid the video’s release to his wife and in his daughter’s school.
Jayachandran, the kingpin of this racket, was arrested last Wednesday from the vicinity of the MlA Hostel as he was trying to escape the Police in the night. Two women, Bindiya Thomas alias Surya and Ruksana B Das, who were allegedly used to ensnare the victims, and two others had also been arrested.
The Police have learned that the racket had shot bedroom scenes of at least 15 persons, including industrialists and leading politicians, and sources said that some of them were very close to the Government. The police have also found out that the accused had already extorted a minimum of Rs 36 lakh by blackmailing their video victims.
Jayachandran, a native of Alappuzha, is said to be extremely close to several leading politicians in ruling and Opposition parties and his operations were said to be based in the State capital, Thiruvananthapuram. Bindiya Thomas, who claimed to be a neighbor of Jayachandran, confirmed to the media the other day that he was close to top Congress and CPI(M) leaders.
According to sources, the State Home Department had decided to shrink the scope of the probe after Jayachandran's arrest from near the MlA Hostel. It is also said that the dimensions of the case are so mysterious that it has even led to a ceasefire in the State Congress between the rival factions led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala.
A senior Congress leader close to Chennithala rejected suggestions of a cover-up bid but admitted that the Government might not like the case to become another embarrassment for it as it had happened in the solar scam in which a then Union minister, two State Ministers and several others had allegedly been in connection with perpetrator and con woman Saritha S Nair.
Jayachandran had stayed in Room No 47 of the MlA Hostel taken in the name of Congress leader and former MlA Sarathchandra Prasad and had reportedly tried to escape in the vehicle of another Congress leader. Prasad has admitted that he knew Jayachandran but he has not been able to explain the nature of the connection between them.