Thiruvananthapuram: The appointment scam at the Thiruvananthapuram corporation health department, involving the mayor, Arya Rajendran, had triggered a massive political row in November last year. The CPI(M) had declared an investigation into the matter, which involved its leader, Arya Rajendran. The Crime Branch and Vigilance had also begun a probe. However, both the party and the police investigation have since turned cold.
In November last year, a letter surfaced, purportedly written by mayor Arya Rajendran to the CPI(M) District Secretary requesting the list of party workers, who are to be appointed to various posts at the corporation’s health department. It was accused that the letter was written on the official letter pad of the Mayor.
Following the Mayor’s letter, a letter by Standing Committee President, DR Anil also surfaced requesting appointments at Medical College.
Both the mayor and the standing committee president said that their respective letters were fakes.
When protests against the party’s nepotism and corruption intensified, the CPI(M) announced a investigation into the matter. However, it was not revealed who will be conducting the investigation. Meanwhile, the Crime Branch and the Vigilance also began investigating the crime.
However, it is believed that the original letter has been destroyed since then. After all these months, the Crime Branch investigation has reached nowhere and the flimsy reason given is that the forensic reports of the computer and phones have not come.
The Vigilance on the other hand closed the investigations saying that as appointments did not take place there is no need for investigation into corruption related to it.
The only action that CPI(M) took was removing standing committee president, GR Anil, from the post on suspicion of the mayor’s letter getting exposed. After this, no action from the party took place.
Likewise, in the recent impersonation row of an SFI leader posing as the university union counselor, the party and the police are investigation the matter. Many believe that these investigations will only end up covering up the matter or giving a clean chit to the perpetrators.
Comments