Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy is facing a week of double trouble involving his staff.
Chandy’s former bodyguard was arrested on Wednesday in connection with a land grab case, while state chief secretary Jiji Thomson made a statement a day earlier, indirectly accusing Chandy of complicity in the more-than-two-decades-old palmolein import case.
On Wednesday, the chief minister’s former guard, Salim Raj was arrested by the Thiruvananthapuram unit of the Central Bureau of Investigation. Five others were also arrested along with Raj. The former guard is accused No. 21 in the Kadakampally land grab case, pertaining to appropriating land through illegal means.
The arrest was recorded after CBI officials called Raj to their office for questioning. One of those arrested along with Raj is an additional tahsildar, an official who deals with land records.
The officials arrested in the case are accused of conniving to transfer ownership of land in favour of Salim Raj.
Some of the officials were arrested in the state capital, and others in Kochi.
Earlier, chief secretary Thomson’s statement that he had advised against import of palmolein, caused more embarrassment to the chief minister.
Chandy was finance minister in the K. Karunakaran cabinet in 1992 when the palmolein import led to losses to the exchequer.
Thomson was managing director of state-owned Supplyco when the palmolein scam happened. By stating on Tuesday that the government had gone against his advice, Thomson was seen as indirectly accusing the chief minister of taking the wrong decision in the palmolein import case.
During the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, some ministers criticised the chief secretary’s statement, and doubts were also raised whether it was timed to hurt the government, which is entering the last year of its five-year tenure.
The critical statement of the chief secretary is also a setback to the government in the context of the forthcoming by-election to the Aruvikkara assembly constituency.
