Ice cream parlour case: VS Achuthanandan displeased with govt stand

Thiruvananthapuram: Embarrassing the CPM- led LDF, Marxist veteran V S Achuthanandan on Wednesday expressed displeasure over the stand taken by the LDF government in the ice cream parlour case in the Supreme Court and said it was “unfortunate”. Achuthanandan, whose plea for a CBI probe into the over two decade old sex scandal was turned down by the Supreme Court on Tuesday, broke his silence on Wednesday and said he had only approached the court for the rights of the poor girls who were forced into prostitution. Senior advocate K K Venugopal, who represented the government, had said Achuthanandan’s plea was “politically motivated”. Asked about the government’s stand, a miffed Achuthanandan told reporters that it was “unfortunate”. “I had raised strong voice to help the poor girls who were forced into prostitution. Court observed that the case was politically motivated and that was unfortunate,” he said. [caption id=“attachment_2876882” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  A file photo of VS Achuthanandan. AFP[/caption] Asked for his response, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said he was unaware of the senior party leader’s remarks. The outburst of the 92-year-old leader, who was sidelined by the party for the Chief Ministerial post, has come when he is tipped to be named as chairman of the Kerala Administrative Reforms commission. The ice cream parlour case, which had rocked the state in the early 1990s, was used as a cover for running an alleged sex racket and names of some politicians, including that of former state minister P K Kunhalikutty, had come under a cloud. Achuthanandan had moved the Apex Court seeking a CBI probe into the case following fresh disclosures by a close relative of Kunhalikutty. However, a division bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur had, while dismissing Achutanandan’s plea, observed that it would not become party to “political battles where people have political vendetta and rivalries”. Achuthanandan was also critical of the manner in which the CM’s legal advisor M K Damodaran, a former Advocate General, had appeared for lottery king Santiago Martin in a case before the Kerala High Court on Tuesday. Achuthanandan said he had launched legal battles against Martin, which saw him eventually “packing off” from the state and that was a big achievement for the LDF. Meanwhile, Opposition Congress today attacked the government, saying it had rolled out the ‘red carpet’ for the lottery king against whom several cases were pending before the High Court. Both KPCC President V M Sudheeran and BJP President Kummanam Rajasekharan demanded that Damodaran quit as Chief Minister’s legal advisor. Kummanam alleged that Achuthanandan had charged Martin with siphoning off about Rs 80,000 crore from Kerala by conducting lotteries and it was surprising that Chief Minister’s legal advisor had appeared for the accused in the case.