Opposition parties in Kerala have levelled serious allegations against the Communist government headed by Pinarayi Vijayan after a fire ‘broke out’ at the Kerala secretariat supposedly due to a short circuit.
The section where the fire broke out is close to the protocol section which is under the NIA scanner regarding the gold smuggling case.
Leader of Opposition and senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala was reported saying to news agency ANI that it was an attempt to sabotage evidence and hide the files related to the gold smuggling case. “This includes files related to Embassies, Consulates, Raj Bhavan, guest house booking, protocol. Those are all paper files. The Home Secretary, Revenue Secretary and GAD Secretary said there were no backup files available for these files. It was hear that a number of files were taken away. Some of them have also got stolen.”
He said that the truth will not come out if the Chief Secretary or any other IAS officer inquires and called for the NIA to investigate.
Mr. Chennithala also wrote a letter alleging conspiracy which was forwarded to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan for appropriate consideration.
BJP Kerala President K. Surendran too slammed the government stating that it was a deliberate attempt to destroy evidence relating to the gold smuggling case which has knocked the Chief Minister’s Office too. He had conducted a protest outside the Secretariat in Thiruvananthapuram. The Pinarayi government has registered a case against Mr. Surendran and 8 others stating that they violated COVID19 protocols and barged into the secretariat.
Meanwhile, the Yuva Morcha too staged a protest demanding the resignation of Pinarayi Vijayan over the fire incident at secretariat. The led a march from the Menaka Junction to the IG’s office but was stopped by the police at St. Teresa’s college premises. Police lathi charged that injured several people including the Yuva Morcha state general secretary P Syam Raj.
On Tuesday, a fire ‘broke out’ at the general administration department close to the protocol section of the Kerala secretariat complex supposedly due to a ‘short circuit’ at around 5 PM. Some files, documents and a computer were destroyed. It said that the fire first broke out at the Chief Protocol Officer’s office.
The NIA is investigation the Kerala gold smuggling case which is said to have funded terror groups. The gold smuggling case has become a serious political problem for Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan because Swapna Suresh who had close ties to the office of the CM office emerging as the main accused.