Kerala: Congress accuses police of influencing medical officer to send Youth Congress chief to jail

Kerala's leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Thursday accused the Pinarayi Vijayan government of "going to any extent" to manipulate situations and send opposition leaders to jail, as in the case of arrested Youth Congress chief Rahul Mamkootathil.

Satheesan also said the Vijayan government is behaving in a ‘Stalinist’ way. "The government tried its best to see that Mamkootathil should not get bail and for that, they manipulated things. It was done using a police official who influenced a medical officer who gave a medically fit certificate, when it should have been given by the treating doctor. We will deal with this injustice in the way it should be dealt with," he said.

Mamkootathil was arrested from his house in Pathanamthitta district in an early morning police action on Tuesday and brought to the state capital in a case of destruction of public property at a party protest held in Thiruvananthapuram last month, where he is the fourth accused.

He was later produced before a local court where it was declared that he has health problems and the court asked for a medical checkup, following which he was taken to a state-run general hospital late on Tuesday evening, and it was here that the police allegedly influenced the medical officer who stated that the arrested leader was medically fit.

Based on this certificate, the court denied bail to the Youth Congress president and sent him to jail. Satheesan criticised CPI-M state secretary M.V. Govindan for "spreading canards" that Mamkootathil had produced a fake medical certificate before the court to escape going to jail.

"It's the state government which has played foul by coming out with a fake medical certificate of the arrested leader. We will deal with this legally. Mamkootathil has been arrested at a time when the personal security official of Vijayan, who has been charged with serious offenses, continues to be in the public domain, while political adversaries are being haunted," he claimed.

Satheesan said this "foul play will be exposed" when Mamkootathil's bail plea comes up in court.