A day after he was absolved of any wrongdoing, CPI(M)’s Kuruppankulangara local committee member N.S. Omanakuttan on Sunday urged the authorities to register a case against those who tried to defame him and the State government.
Earlier, the police registered a cheating case against Mr. Omanakuttan and the CPI(M) district committee suspended him pending inquiry, after a video of him collecting money from the residents of a relief camp at Cherthala South grama panchayat had surfaced. However, on Saturday, the party revoked the suspension after finding that the allegations were baseless.
Mr. Omanakuttan said that the real target of those who tried to denigrate him was the State government.
“The government has been doing a great job helping people affected by the floods. But, those who levelled false accusation and carried a smear campaign against me on the social media actually want to tarnish the government. Action should be initiated against them as per the cyber law,” he said.
Mr. Omanakuttan and his family are among the 154 families currently residing at the camp at the Scheduled Caste community hall. On Friday, following the video of him collecting money emerged, Cherthala tahsildar filed a complaint before the police.
The police later registered a case under section 420 of the Indian Penal Code against him. However, it was later revealed that he had collected ₹70 from the camp residents, that too with their approval, for meeting some of their needs.
After the fact was revealed, Revenue Principal Secretary V. Venu apologised to Mr. Omanakuttan in a Facebook post.
The Revenue Department had also withdrawn the police complaint filed against him.
Collector visits camp
Meanwhile, District Collector Adeela Abdulla visited the camp and interacted with Mr. Omanakuttan and other residents on Sunday. Ms. Abdulla said that officials on duty at the camp at the time had been warned. “It is a properly run relief camp in the Cherthala taluk. The money was collected by residents of the camp as per a joint decision. I have been asked by the department to meet Mr. Omanakuttan. I met him and assured all the help to the residents of the camp,” the collector said.
A.M. Ariff, MP, also visited the camp.