Thiruvananthapuram:
Kerala's Information Commissioner K Natarajan has been accused of trying to protect former chief minister VS Achutanandan in a land scam case by an investigating officer who has furnished audio recordings that he claims prove he is being pressured. The former chief minister and Left leader, who is the key accused in the case, has distanced himself from this saying he needs "nobody's help."
The Investigating Officer, VG Kunhan, claims that Mr K Natarajan has been trying to put pressure on him to drop Mr Achutanandan's name. To back his claim, Mr Kunhan has given recordings of telephone conversations in which Mr Natarajan is allegedly heard telling him to drop the former chief minister's name as the first accused in the case, to protect him from being charged. In one of the recordings, yet to be authenticated, Mr Natarajan allegedly tells Mr Kunhan that "everyone takes cuts... a mistake has happened."
Mr Natarajan was appointed state information commissioner by Mr Achutanandan when he was the chief minister. He has also previously been a deputy inspector general of police in the state.
Mr Achutanandan, who is 89 years old, has been accused of giving more than 2 acres of land in north Kerala's Kasargod district to a relative in contravention of the law when he was chief minister. During his stint, Mr Achutanandan had cracked the whip on corruption, not sparing even his own partymen.
He told reporters yesterday, "I don't need the help of anyone to fight my case, which is nothing but a fabricated one by the present (Oommen) Chandy government. Natarajan's role that came out is to be seen as nothing but a conspiracy to target me as the case is coming up for hearing on October 17."
Chief Minister Oommen Chandy of the Congress has countered that charge, telling NDTV, "This is not our style of functioning. We don't use back door politics. We won't create difficulties for the Opposition but law will take its own course." His Home Minister, Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, has said, "This is not a small thing. Intimidating an investigating officer is a serious offence."
In the audio recording that have been sent by Mr Kunhan to his superiors, Mr Natarajan is allegedly heard requesting him to drop Mr Achuthanandan from the first count because that would make him liable to be charged with commission of offence. In one of the recordings, Mr Natarajan is allegedly heard saying to Mr Kunhan: "What no one can do, an Investigating Officer can do. This is my request... let us try to absolve him from the first count. You don't have to do it. It's a request. Everybody is taking cuts. He is a leader with a clean image. Anyways, a mistake has happened."
The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) has passed the audio "evidence" to the cyber-forensic wing of the state police to check its authenticity. The Director of VACB has asked BSNL for details of all records of telephonic conversations between the Mr Natarajan and Mr Kunhan.
Meanwhile, a group of people have approached the Governor, who is the appointing authority for Chief Information Commissioner and information commissioners to refer the matter to the Supreme Court.
Mr Natarajan was unavailable for comments.