Police have taken EMCC director Shiju Varghese into custody after he revealed that he was involved in the conspiracy to torch his car on the day of the Kerala Assembly election. Police picked Shiju in Goa.
According to reports, police have said that Shiju will be named as an accused in the case. Coincidently, Shiju also happened to be the complainant in the case.
Shiju had announced his candidature following the state government cutting ties with EMCC India in the deep-sea fishing deals after the opposition brought out the evidence. According to reports, Shiju claimed that Fisheries Minister Mercykutty Amma had cheated him in the project and he is contesting elections to convince the people.
He even alleged that if the government had any deep-sea fishing policy, then they should have made it clear earlier. He even blames the minister and minister's office. Shiju allegedly said that legal action would be initiated against the minister in connection with the controversy.
Shiju contested as an independent candidate against Mercykutty Amma for the Kundra seat. On the election day, reports emerged that there was a conspiracy to set fire to Shiju’s car. Following this, Shiju had submitted a complaint and the police registered a case. During the investigation, police arrested a man from Thiruvananthapuram, who was part of a quotation gang.
While questioning the man, police found out that Shiju was also involved in the conspiracy. Police also questioned the EMCC director’s driver on the conspiracy.
However, Mercykutty Amma said that Shiju tried to sabotage the election and was involved in the conspiracy. She alleged that the police had taken him into custody, and according to her, there was a canister full of kerosene in his vehicle when the special branch officers had detained him. She alleged that these incidents were part of a conspiracy to sabotage the elections from the very beginning. “They tried to shake Kerala on Election Day by saying that the Left had tried to burn him. However, the coup attempt failed and police would investigate who was behind it,” she added.
On the other hand, the police rejected the minister’s claim and they said that Shiju Varghese had not been taken into custody. According to them, Shiju arrived at the police station to lodge a complaint that a bombing attempt against him had taken place. They said that Shiju’s statement is being recorded and that they seized no fuel from his car. Meanwhile, the opposition has claimed that this entire sequence of events is a play to fool the people.
