Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala High Court has directed the Crime Branch ADGP to investigate the criminal case filed against Union Minister of State for Tourism Alphons Kannanthanam. The court issued the order in this regard on a petition filed by former AG James K Joseph.
The order also says that the documents related to the case have to be submitted to the investigating officer.
Joseph had filed a complaint against four persons, including Kannanthanam, in 2014 and the Vattiyoorkavu police registered a case in this regard. However, with the police neither completing the investigation nor filing the final report even after four years, James Joseph approached the High Court.
Back in 2004, Kannanthanam and his official friends had allegedly raised baseless complaints against Joseph. This had denied Joseph a place in Central Administrative Tribunal (CAT). The allegation against Joseph was that he had conducted illegal appointments during his term as AG.
Joseph presented before the High Court documents obtained under the Right to Information Act which prove that the charges against him were false. The High Court issued its directive based on these documents, apart from other points. The defendants in the case are Alphons Kannanthanam and officials of the department of personnel Budh Prakash, Kesab Desi Raju and A N Tiwari.
Around 15 years ago, Joseph and Kannanthanam had planned to set up some educational institutions. However, the project did not work out and both of them raised allegation against each other. According to Joseph, Kannanthanam had subsequently made some false charges to deny him a CAT membership.
