Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's remarks assume significance with the investigation by Kerala police not making much headway even days after the incident. (PTI file photo)
The Centre is ready to conduct a CBI probe into the brutal rape and murder of a 30-year-old law student in Ernakulam district and the guilty will be punished, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said today.
"CBI probe should be held into the murder. As the country's Home Minister, I assure you that as soon as we get a recommendation (in this regard) from the state government, we are prepared to conduct a CBI probe," Mr Singh, who began electioneering for the May 16 Assembly polls in Kerala, said at a public meeting in Chathannoor, about 16 km from Kollam city.
The home minister said the guilty will be brought to book.
"I assure you that the guilty shall be punished," he said.
The home minister's remarks assume significance with the investigation by Kerala police not making much headway even days after the incident.
The woman, who hailed from a poor family, was raped and brutally assaulted using sharp-edged weapons before being murdered at her house at nearby Perumbavoor in Ernakulam district on April 28.
The shocking incident had its echo in Parliament with members demanding "exemplary punishment" for the culprits besides triggering widespread protests across the state.
Flaying CPI(M) veteran VS Achutanandan for not disclosing the name of the VIP in the sensational Killiroor and Kaviyoor sex scandals as "assured" by him, Mr Singh said his credibility in Kerala politics had come to an end as he failed to keep his promise.
"I want to ask you...you had in 2006 Assembly elections said in the two big cases of Kiliroor and Kaviyoor. You had said when you will become chief minister, you will disclose the name of the VIP.
"What you said you didn't do, your credibility in Kerala politics has come to an end," Mr Singh said at the meeting.
The two sex scandals had rocked the state in 2003 after young girls were sexually abused on the pretext of giving them roles in television serials.
They were allegations that some influential persons were involved in the two cases.