By IANS,
Thiruvananthapuram : The Congress party Friday demanded that Kerala Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan quit after the state high court asked the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to take over the probe into the murder of Muthoot business group scion Paul M. George.
Speaking to reporters here, Congress spokesperson M.M. Hassan said “it is high time that Balakrishnan quits”.
“Civil governance has come a cropper in the state and it is the court that has come in to help by handing over the probe to the CBI. The state police has failed in its duty in unravelling the Muthoot murder case. If Kodiyeri has any scruples left, he should quit,” said Hassan.
The probe was handed over to the CBI Thursday by Chief Justice S.R. Bannurmath on a plea by Paul George’s father M.G. George Muthoot, who approached the court Oct 30 last year.
The CBI has been asked to complete the probe in six months’ time.
George, 32, was killed under mysterious circumstances near Alappuzha Aug 21 last year while travelling in a car with Om Prakash and Rajesh, two men who face several criminal cases in the state.
The police have arrested 19 people in the murder, including Prakash and Rajesh but George’s father feels that the investigation was an eyewash.