This Week Kerala: Ministers Case history

Forest minister K B Ganesh Kumar had once landed in an eve-teasing case.

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Ministers Case history

Forest minister K B Ganesh Kumar had once landed in an eve-teasing case. It was in 1996,years before the Kerala Congress (B) leader called Opposition leader V S Achuthanandan a sex maniac. Kumar,then a film actor,and his friends were travelling in a car towards Mookambika,near Mangalore. Their car was closely trailing a jeep in which a few women were travelling in the same direction. When the jeep reached the women’s destination in North Kerala,local people roughed up Kumar and the others,accusing them of eve-teasing. Later,they were taken to a police station,after which they were let out on bail. The issue was later settled after an apology.

teens rs 29,000 mobile bill

During the trial on the Kilirro sex scandal in the CBI court in Thiruvananthapuram last week,the father of the minor girl involved revealed that his daughter had incurred a mobile phone bill of Rs 29,000 one month in 2004,around the time she was being sent to various men with the promise of screen roles. She was then 14 and in Std IX; she later died during childbirth. When the teenager ran such a whopping mobile phone bill,her parents apparently did not find anything odd. Her father told the court that the bill was later taken away by Latha Nair,accused of offering the girl to men. The case had drawn wide attention after V S Achuthanandans observation that a VIP was involved,though the CBI has not found any such VIP.

Lottery as a cure for ills

Kerala has a special passion for the lottery business. Since 1967,the state government has been running a lottery business,in which private barons from other states,too,later hit the jackpot. The annual sale of other state,single-digit lotteries had reached Rs 14,000 crore before the government banned it last year. Now,the state government is banking on the business to mobilise money for palliative care and meet the expenses of treatment for cancer and other ailments. Finance Minister K M Mani said the income from the weekly lottery,Karunya,would be set apart for the healthcare sector.

Reaching for the stars

The CBI has found irregularities in the award of star status to hotels in Kerala. In recent raids conducted in the Kochi office of the ITDC,sleuths arrested three officials,who had allegedly taken kickbacks to give a three-star category to some hotels. With the government having decided to restrict new liquor bar licences only to hotels that have a three-star rank,there is a rush to get that status. The present government has issued 23 new liquor licences since it assumed office in May; the CBI raid has put eight new hotels under the scanner. Some of the hotels given three stars allegedly did not meet the government specifications for getting that status.

Expelled after complaint

a government-run lower primary school in Thrissur last week expelled a girl and her brother,too,after she had complained of sexual harassment by a male teacher. The school authorities had allegedly advised the girl,who was in Std I,to withdraw the complaint. Her brother had skipped school for a few days after the complaint. The school was widely criticised following the expulsion,after which the government suspended the headmistress and the teacher blamed Social activists have got the children admitted to another school.