Kerala Cabinet Accepts Commission Report on Clearing AK Saseendran

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Wednesday said the state cabinet has accepted the Justice PS Antony-led Commission’s report on the Mangalam channel phone chat scandal.
The Chief Minister said he has ordered the state’s Director General of Police (DGP) Loknath Behera to probe the conspiracy that led to the scandal. On its inaugural day, the Mangalam channel had released an audio clip and claimed the then Kerala transport minister AK Saseendran was allegedly speaking inappropriately with a woman and had sought sexual favours from her.
Addressing a press conference here, Vijayan said, “The Cabinet has approved the Justice Antony Commission report. There was a planned conspiracy by the channel against former transport minister AK Saseendran. I have directed the DGP to probe the conspiracy.”
Saseendran has resigned on ‘moral grounds’ but dismissed the charges against him as being ‘baseless’. The government had set up the Justice (Retd) P S Antony Commission to probe the allegations levelled by the channel.
The report has recommended cancellation of Mangalam channel’s licence and strong action against it and its CEO Ajith Kumar.
Mangalam TV, a part of the Malayalam daily Mangalam, played audio tape of a sexually explicit conversation between a man and an unidentified woman. This is the second minister to step down from the Kerala cabinet—the first was E.P. Jayarajan in October over charges of nepotism—even before the government completes a year in office in May.
Saseendran is a legislator from the Nationalist Congress Party, a constituent of the ruling Left and Democratic Front alliance. Following the land grab case, Transport Minister Thomas Chandy also from the NCP resigned from the ministry.