Kerala: DGP briefs CM on ice cream parlour case

Thiruvananthapuram, April 26: Amid reports that Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan is unhappy with the progress of investigation into the ice cream parlour sex scandal, DGP Jacob Punnoose today briefed him on the details of the probe.

The DGP's meeting with the Chief Minister assumed significance as the former had refused to brief Achuthanandan on the case during the election campaign as he had said it would involve violation of the Model Code of Conduct.

According to sources, Punnoose had a 20-minute meeting with the Chief Minister today after getting permission from the Election Commission.

"I have apprised the Chief Minister of the details. And (have) nothing more to add," Punnoose told mediapersons after the meeting.

The ice cream parlour case had created a political storm in 2005, with the name of IUML leader and the then Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty figuring in it.

Kunhalikutty, however, was never listed as an accused in the case. The case relates to a sensational sex scandal in Kozhikode that surfaced in late 1990s, using an ice cream parlour as a cover to lure young girls into a sex racket.

Recently, the scandal was in the news again with a relative of Kunhalikutty claiming that he had helped the IUML leader to scuttle the probe into the case by influencing victims and witnesses to retract their statements. The fresh probe into the case was ordered based on the new allegations.

The Chief Minister had earlier directed the DGP and ADGP Vinson M Paul heading the investigation team that he should be apprised of the progress of the probe regularly. He also wanted the investigators to be in touch with legal experts suggested by him for effective conduct of the probe.

However, police had expressed difficulty to go by the directive since the election campaign was on at that time.

PTI