Kochi: Kerala Higher Education Minister K T Jaleel has been in the thick of controversies for a while, but he is apparently not a wee bit flustered. Even as the Customs interrogated him for over 6 hours, weeks after his questioning by a couple of central agencies, the Thavanur MLA sounded upbeat.
"Even if 1000 agencies do penance for 10,000 years and conduct investigations, they will not be able to produce evidence against me," Jaleel said in a Facebook post on the ongoing interrogation into the import of several copies of the Holy Quran via diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate in Thiruvananthapuram.
Jaleel posted the comment shortly before leaving the Customs Commissionerate at 6.30 pm where he was grilled for by Customs officials.
The minister said he came to the Customs office in his official capacity because the department had publicised his appearance for questioning through the media.
"ED and NIA had called me secretly hence I went there without publicising," he said, referring to the earlier reports that he sought to keep under wraps interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate and the National Investigation Agency over his suspected links to the key accused in another case about the smuggling of gold through the diplomatic baggage of the UAE Consulate.
In September the ED had questioned Jaleel over the import of the Holy Quran.
More excerpts from the Facebook post: "I am reiterating once again that even the smallest particle of evidence cannot be brought against me in connection with a corruption case, mobilizing shares by defrauding people, business fraud, amassment of illegal wealth or allegations of taking even 10 paisa as bribe.”
“Satyameva Jayate. These reassuring words always instilled self confidence and gave strength to an ordinary person like me in public life. Those trying to tie the noose around my neck will either get exhausted or their rope will snap -- nothing else is going to happen. This should not be construed as arrogance or challenge. This is as a result of the mental toughness that emanates from the internal conscience which says I have not done anything wrong,” the FB post further said.
Jaleel's defence
On Monday, Jaleel's questioning lasted from 12 noon to 6.30 pm. Customs Superintendent Ramaswamy led the interrogation team.
Jaleel reiterated the circumstances under which the copies of Quran were distributed and to whom all. Besides he shared all other information received on this count with the Customs officials.
Most questions were related to the intervention of Swapna Suresh, an accused in the gold smuggling case, in delivering copies of Quran and food kits sponsored by the Consulate and the circumstances that warranted her involvement.
Jaleel also clarified about a dozen-odd calls he had made to Swapana during that period. The minister explained that he had called Swapan on the instructions of UAE Consul General and only issues related to the Quran and Ramzan kit had transpired between them during these calls.
Arrives in official car
The higher education minister arrived at the Customs office in his official car on Monday. There was a police escort as well. It may be recalled that the minister came secretly to appear for questioning by the ED in connection with the gold smuggling case. At that time he used the car of an industrialist based in Aroor.
Even for the questioning by the NIA he came quite early in the morning and that too in a private vehicle.
Complaint on Jaleel's PhD thesis
An academic matter linked to Jaleel too is set to be investigated.
Kerala Governor and Chancellor of Kerala University Arif Mohammad Khan has forwarded to the university vice chancellor the complaints pointing out a few discrepancies in Jaleel's Ph.D thesis.
The minister was awarded the PhD in 2006 for his thesis on the role of Variyan Kunnathu Kunjahammed Haji and Ali Musliar in the Malabar Riots of 1921.
The main allegation of the Save University Forum is that there is no fundamental contribution of the researcher to the thesis. The thesis was not available on the UGC website. The copy of the thesis was obtained through the RTI Act and examined closely.
The paper contains 622 quotations in 302 paragraphs. Whatever was said from the researcher’s side is contained in the introductory and concluding chapters only.
The complainant has also explained the mistakes, misquotes and wrong phrases used in the thesis.
The complainant alleged that in the absence of Syndicate, the then university vice chancellor Dr M K Ramachandran Nair had granted PhD to K T Jaleel using his special powers.
