Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Mullappally Ramachandran and his predecessor V. M. Sudheeran have lashed out at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his office for their laxity in the accident case involving IAS officer Sriram Venkataraman. They alleged that Sriram got bail due to the plot hatched by officials enabling the prosecution to favour him.
Mullappally said that any court would have given bail to Sriram as there was no evidence of him being drunk. The prosecution will repeat it in the High Court.
"The chief minister's assurance to take stringent action against the guilty is hollow. The police also failed miserably in gathering evidence," said the KPCC president .
He asked Vijayan to give up the home portfolio as he is a misfit there. He has become a prisoner of his helplessness which enabled Sriram to get bail, he said.
Sudheeran alleged that the bureaucrat lobby can challenge the judicial system itself. He blamed the police for not collecting proper evidence. "Pinarayi's previous experience in helping the accused in political cases prompted him to go lax in the Sriram's case," he said.
"A sum of Rs 56 lakh was spent from the exchequer to prevent a CBI probe into the Shuhaib murder. Kerala has become the paradise of criminals," said Sudheeran.
