Kochi: The State Government has informed the Kerala High Court that it is not in favour of a CBI inquiry into the letter row in connection with the temporary appointments in the Thiruvananthapuram corporation.
Mayor Arya Rajendran has given the explanation that the letter is fake and not written by her.
A case has been taken and the investigation is progressing.
The petition for a CBI probe was filed only with the intention to grab media attention, the public prosecutor told the court when it sought the government’s stance on the issue.
Justice K Babu was considering the plea filed by G S Sree Kumar, former Thiruvananthapuram Medical College ward member, seeking the court direction for a judicial probe or CBI inquiry into the matter. The court retorted to the public prosecutor that it was not examining any media news and was solely concerned with the facts of the letter.
The petitioner expressed concern that the current probe won’t be heading in the right direction due to “political interference”.
The situation that a CPM party membership is required to get an appointment even to a temporary post in the corporation is “fearsome” and there are charges that the Mayor acted in violation of the oath-taking, the petition alleged.
Statement of five employees recorded
Meanwhile, the Crime Branch probing the case collected documents relating to the temporary appointments from the Health section of the Corporation.
The sleuths also recorded the statements of five employees.
The controversy regards to a letter purportedly written by the Mayor, addressing the CPM district secretary Anavoor Nagappan, seeking a list of candidates for the 295 temporary vacancies in the Corporation.
She has all the way maintained that the letter was not written by her and that she had no role in the episode.
However, the Crime Branch probe was ordered, and the probe was initiated after the issue turned into a controversy.
The investigation on Friday focused on evidence from the Health section.
The inquiry officers collected documents regarding posts, media ads, vacancies, and the like.
The Crime Branch already recorded the statements of seven persons, including the Mayor, in the Letter row.