Thiruvananthapuram: The Cabinet on Wednesday appointed P.S. Antony Commission to look into the circumstances leading to the resignation of A.K. Saseendran.
The commission will submit its report within three months. The terms of reference of the probe include detailed examination of the conversation. Under what circumstances did the conversation take place, whether the conversation that was recorded earlier had been edited with ulterior motive, did anyone tamper with the recording and who all were behind the entire episode. Was there any illegality in airing the conversation or any conspiracy behind the decision to telecast the said conversation?
Besides all other issues connected with the incident will come within the purview of the judicial probe. The NCP leader had resigned on Sunday after an audio clip of a sexually explicit conversation, allegedly between him and a woman was aired by a local TV channel.
Cabinet felt that in the given circumstances when the former minister didn’t even wait for a preliminary inquiry into the incident before stepping down, a judicial probe would be suitable to find out the truth behind the incident. The chief minister had on Monday ruled out the possibility of a sitting judge for the inquiry. With earlier requests for sitting judges to head commission being turned out on the grounds of scarcity of judicial officers, the government didn’t make any effort to get one this time.
