Kerala Assembly Speaker P Sreeramakrishnan has denied rumours that he attempted to commit suicide. Sreeramakrishnan posted a video on his social media account saying that he is not a coward who will take refuge in suicide.
“It has come to a stage where I have to inform people that I am alive due to propaganda. Rumours are being spread that I committed suicide and my family has broken up. Some people may have believed such rumours. I must let you know that I am not a coward who takes refuge in suicide,” he said in a video posted on his Facebook account.
The Kerala Speaker claimed that the propaganda was spread by an online journalist and termed them as an ugly creature. He said that he was not afraid to face any central agency. “I am willing to face any probe agency at any time. I have reiterated this in the Kerala Assembly and outside the Assembly several times,” Sreeramakrishnan said, requesting people to reject propaganda.
Two days ago, Sreeramakrishanan was to appear before Customs officials for questioning in connection to the Dollar smuggling case. However, the Assembly Speaker informed the officials that he could not show as he was unwell.
On April 1, the agency has asked him to report for questioning at their Kochi office on April 8 after the elections. While the agency had sent a notice on March 12, Sreeramakrishnan refused to cooperate. The second notice follows the submission of Swapna Suresh’s confidential statements with the Kerala High Court.
While the agencies, including the Enforcement Directorate (ED), had sent letters for his appearance, he had avoided them citing that he assembly duties and then election responsibilities. He had written to the agencies to defer the questioning to a later date preferably after the elections. Moreover, the party leadership had also asked the MLA to wait until the elections, since appearing during the campaigning might affect the party’s prospects.
The Customs’ charge against Sreeramakrishnan includes smuggling dollars to invest money in a university abroad in his name. Swapna claimed that there were widespread irregularities concerning this development, which led the Customs to target the Speaker. Moreover, in the ED’s submission in Court, Swapna said that Sreeramakrishnan had called her to his flat “for some personal dirty intentions”. According to Swapna, Sreeramakrishnan had told her that the flat in Chakka was his hideout and that she had not gone alone despite several calls from the Speaker.
