The Hindu : Kerala / Kochi News : Warrant against KC(J) leaders

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Tuesday, Jan 01, 2008
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Warrant against KC(J) leaders

Kochi: The Ernakulam Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Cherian K. Kuriakose on Monday issued bailable arrest warrants again to the Kerala Congress (J) leaders P.C. Thomas, MP, and V. Surendran Pillai, MLA, on a complaint that criminal case be registered against party chairman P.J. Joseph and other leaders in connection with selection of Mons Joseph as Minister.

Mr. Thomas and Mr. Pillai are cited as witnesses in the complaint. According to B.V. Raveendran, journalist, the selection of Mr. Mons Joseph at a party meeting was manipulated. When the case came up last time, the two witnesses did not appear before the court. So, the magistrate had issued the bailable arrest warrants against them and posted the case to December 31.The court re-issued the arrest warrant as the witnesses failed to appear on Monday.

The complaint alleged that Mr. P.J. Joseph, MLA, Mr. Mons Joseph, MLA (now Public Works Minister), Eapen Varghese, and K. Francis George, MP, had “connived to defeat the selection of Mr. Surendran Pillai as a Minister in the State Cabinet and manipulated the lots.” There were 15 lots, out of which three were blank. Nobody knew what was in the other 12 lots. Mr. P.J. Joseph could not “wash his hands of by saying that it was an internal matter of his party. The issue involves selection of a Minister of the State and it is not a family affair and should not be done in a most illegal manner,” the complaint said.

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