TVM appointment row: DGP orders Crime Branch probe into the controversial letter

 

Thiruvananthapuram: Crime Branch will initiate a probe into the controversial letter allegedly penned or signed by Thiruvananthapuram mayor Arya Rajendran seeking a list of CPM members for the appointment in vacant posts in the corporation. It is alleged that the letter was forwarded to CPM district secretary Anavoor Nagappan. Following this, Kerala state police chief Anil Kant has ordered a Crime Branch investigation into the controversial letter and allegations against the mayor. Crime Branch team under Thiruvananthapuram unit SP PS Madhusoodanan will probe the case. DySP Jaleel Thottathil will lead the team.

Amidst this, CPM also announced a parallel investigation into the letter. CPM Thiruvananthapuram district committee will conduct the probe. District secretary Anavoor Nagappan will meet the media to explain the move. The letter, addressing CPI(M) district secretary Anavoor Nagappan as ‘comrade’, containing the official letter pad of the mayor and her signature, kicked up a huge political controversy in Kerala with opposition Congress and BJP demanding her immediate resignation.

As the letter triggered a controversy, the mayor denied writing the letter and filed a complaint with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan seeking a probe. Speaking to reporters here on Sunday, Arya Rajendran said she met the Chief Minister and handed over a complaint to him requesting a probe into the genesis of the letter and who all were behind it. She added that at first glance, the letter appeared to be ‘edited’. ‘Whether the letter or the letter pad or the signature is fake, original or forged has to be ascertained in the inquiry. That is why I have given a complaint to the CM requesting an inquiry into how the letter came into existence and what was the motive behind it’, she said.

Earlier today, Municipal corporation parliamentary party secretary DR Anil revealed that he wrote the controversial letter regarding the appointments to the SIT hospital, to CPM district secretary. A letter had surfaced recently, in which Anil was requesting a list of candidates for the nine vacancies to be filled at the SIT hospital.