Kerala orders probe against officer who allegedly tried to protect Achuthanandan in land scam

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Home Minister has told NDTV that a Cabinet decision has been taken to order a probe to ascertain the alleged role of Information Commissioner K Natarajan in influencing the Investigating officer's decision regarding Kasargod land scam case.

The investigating officer, VG Kunhan, had written a letter to his senior and attached an audio recording of an alleged conversation between him and the state information commissioner.
 
The officer claimed that Mr Natarajan was frequently calling him to 'absolve' Mr Achuthanandan as the first accused in his fact finding report. The officer suspected an attempt at sabotaging the enquiry.
 
Mr Achuthanandan is being investigated in the land scam case for using his influence as chief minister to allot land in Kasargod to one of his relative TK Soman 'unjustifiably'.

The audio record of one such conversation, provided by the investigating officer to his seniors, has Mr Natarajan allegedly requesting him to drop Mr Achuthanandan from the first count because that would make him liable to be charged with commissioning of offence. The Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) had earlier sent the audio 'evidence' to the cyber-forensic wing of the state police to check its authenticity.
 
Mr Achuthanandan has slammed the allegations as fabricated and has said he has nothing to do with the audio records. He has said anyone who uses his name for the wrong purpose should be punished.
 
Meanwhile, Mr Natarajan is out of Kerala and is unavailable for any comments. He was appointed as the Information Commissioner during the tenure of Mr Achutanandan as the Chief Minister of Kerala.

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