On January 24, 2011, it was Teena who found her husband V Saseendran, and their two sons Vyas and Vivek hanging in the house. Though she claimed that death of the former management executive of Malabar Cements Limited in Palakkad was murder, it took some time for the company to run into trouble.
Four years after the incident, media reports claim that former CPI (M) Minister Elamaram Kareem was involved in deep corruption in Malabar Cements Limited.
No Protection For Whistle Blowers
In 2007, the Comptroller and Auditor General unearthed a scam of Rs 400 crore in Malabar Cements where Saseendran was the prime witness. Two years later, he wrote to the Chief Minister and Vigilance department head, informing them about the corruption in the fully owned government undertaking. Following intimidation he had resigned and just two days after a chargesheet was filed in the case, Saseendran was dead.
The initial theory of the possibility of suicide was soon over-ruled as post-mortem report revealed eight bruises on Saseendran’s body. Soon, an FIR named the firm’s managing director Sundara Moorthy, his secretary Sooryanarayanan and VM Radhakrishnan, a private contractor with MCL.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted an investigation that spanned over three years. The agency was accused of delay in filing chargesheet. Finally, the CBI filed a chargesheet in September 2014, before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, calling Saseendran death a case of suicide. But the chargesheet filed also said that VM Radhakrishnan was guilty of abetting suicide and criminal intimidation.
The charge sheet said Radhakrishnan, on January 4, 2011, threatened Saseendran saying he would make it impossible for Saseendran to find work anywhere in the State. Then Managing Director Sundara Moorthy and his secretary Sooryanarayanan, who allegedly assisted Radhakrishnan in harassing Saseendran, which is believed to have triggered the suicide, had also turned approvers in the case.
In September 2010, Saseendran had written to the then Chief Minister VS Achuthananthan, the Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem and the Vigilance Director about the rampant corruption in the loss-making company. He alleged that the managing director’s secretary P Suryanarayanan was leaking vital company information outside. However, five days later, he wrote to them again, ‘regretting’ that he had raised such allegations. Then came the resignation, a month later.
Trouble For CPI(M)
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the state seems to have gotten into trouble after a secret statement by former MD Sundara Moorthy has come out in public. His statement to a magistrate in Ernakulam in 2013, reveals that former Industries Minister Elamaram Kareem received bribe from Radhakrishnan, when the former visited MCL in 2010.
This comes as a major blow to the CPI(M), which has been staging protests demanding that corrupt ministers in the UDF government must step down. The Congress in Kerala is asking whether Kareem was also one of those who threatened Saseendran at various stages. Kareem was quick to deny the allegations, saying that it comes from the prime accused in the case and therefore is not credible. He further alleged that the charges are part of the UDF government’s game plan to escape the corruption charges.
Mere denial of the allegations might not be enough for the CPI(M) to get a clean chit. Previous reports suggest Radhakrishnan’s relationship with the leaders in the official faction of the CPI (M). The CPI(M) government had retained Radhakrishnan as the contractor for the firm, even after corruption cases came up during the earlier Congress-led government.
However, opposition leader VS Achuthanandan has said that the allegations against Kareen should be investigated.
(Megha Varier is a reporter with The News Minute)