Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

`Crime Branch probe only to save guilty'

Special Correspondent

Attack on Bishop's House with the knowledge of the police, says Pinarayi

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: CPI(M) State secretary Pinarayi Vijayan on Saturday said that the Crime Branch investigation into the attack on the Bishop's House at Neyyattinkara was meant only to shield the guilty.

Mr. Vijayan told reporters after visiting the Bishop's House on Saturday that nobody was happy with the Government's decision to leave the investigation to the Crime Branch. The only person who was happy about it was KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala, who was the first to raise the demand. Neither the Church authorities nor the local people had made any such demand, he pointed out.

The CPI(M) leader said it was clear that the attack on the Bishop's House was carried out with the connivance of the local police and pointed out that the Superintendent of Police probing the incident was widely seen as the main protector of the criminal elements in the locality. The attack had taken place around 3 a.m., just after the police personnel posted at the Bishop's House left the place.

Mr. Vijayan said the incident could not be seen in isolation from the series of attacks on the minorities in Kerala and the Government's blatant attempts to protect the guilty to serve its narrow political interests. In all the instances where minorities came under attack, the Government's policy was to shield the guilty. Father Job Chittilappally in Thrissur was killed on the day Oommen Chandy assumed office as Chief Minister. The police had nabbed some RSS workers in connection with the incident, but had later let them go. It has not arrested anyone even a year after that. The Catholic Church had come out openly against the Government five times over the issue, but to no avail.

Similarly, the RSSP activists who attacked nuns belonging to the Sisters of Charity at Olavanna in Kozhikode district were also still at large. In the present instance too, everybody knew the persons who attacked the Bishop's House. There was no headway in the investigation because the whole incident had taken place with the connivance of the Home Department, he alleged.

On Mr. Chennithala's accusation that the CPI(M) was playing communal politics, Mr. Vijayan said his party had no need to do so. It had always come out against attacks on the minorities and never intervened in such matters with an eye on votes. In the Neyyattinkara incident too, it would intervene firmly if the police failed to nab the guilty at the earliest, the CPI(M) secretary said.

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