Letter row: Corporation to hold special council meet at BJP councillors’ request 

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Thiruvananthapuram city corporation has scheduled a special council meeting for Saturday at the request of BJP councillors to discuss the issue pertaining to the controversial letter that was purportedly written by Mayor Arya Rajendran to CPM district secretary Anavoor Nagappan.

BJP councillors are also planning to stage a protest on Saturday, demanding the dismissal of the governing council. The opposition councillors had earlier requested the governing council to hold a special council meeting to discuss the issue.

Meanwhile, the protest by the BJP and UDF councillors continued on Tuesday. However, no violent incidents have been reported. The BJP councillors alleged that the CPM workers forced the corporation staff to participate in the LDF protest against the governor in front of Raj Bhavan. They said there was an acute staff shortage in the office on Tuesday.

CB report only on Friday 
As ADGP (Crimes) Sheikh Darvesh Saheb is on leave, the crime branch will submit the report, based on the preliminary inquiry conducted following a complaint filed by the mayor, to State Police Chief Anil Kant only on Friday. SP S Madhusoodanan, who is supervising the probe, had gone to Sabarimala as part of security surveillance ahead of the start of Mandalam season on Thursday.

According to sources close to the crime branch, the ADGP will return to work only on Friday. The investigation team will submit the report to the ADGP, who has to hand it over to the DGP. 

The crime branch will recommend the DGP to register a case as they need to conduct a detailed probe as the letter has not been recovered by the investigating team. Since the mayor  reiterated that the letter could be forged, an FIR needs to be registered for a detailed probe, the report said. The officers also said they could not conclude that the letter is forged as it is yet to be found out. 

Vigilance to inspect corporation office
The vigilance is likely to inspect the corporation office as part of collecting digital evidence in connection with the probe into the letter controversy. The sleuths said works standing committee chairman D R Anil’s office staff will also be questioned soon. “We need to collect digital evidence. So we will conduct an inspection at the office,” said a vigilance officer. Both crime branch and vigilance have received only the screenshot of the letter. So far, the officials have recorded statements of mayor, Anil, Anavoor Nagappan and two staff of the mayor’s office, Vinod and Girish.