Rauf claims he is implicated in false cases

KOZHIKODE: Controversial businessman K A Rauf Friday said he was being implicated in false cases to force him to rapprochement with his former mentor and Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty.

Talking to reporters here he said he was arrested in connection with the strike in a stone quarry, which he owned, on a complaint by Vazhakkad in Malappuram Block Panchayat President Jabhar Haji on charge of obstructing government servant from discharging duty. He said Haji, with whom he held a meeting to settle the stir in a stone quarry in Vazhakkad, asked him to withdraw allegations against Kunhalikutty as a pre-condition.

Haji also wanted him to make a public statement informing he had withdrawn the allegations, Rauf said. He feigned an agreement on condition that cases, including Maharashtra land issues against him would be dropped, fully knowing that court cases cannot be withdrawn, Rauf alleged. However, Haji became angry when he came to know that Rauf recorded their conversation in a 'key-chain' camera, prompting him to lodge the complaint. A police officer, who interrogated him (Rauf) after the arrest demanded other cameras, if any, held by him to record the conversation. He said his lawyer also received a phone call from 'a person close to Kunhalikutty' asking for an early settlement of the issues. Stating he was blackmailed, harassed and cornered by sources close to the 'wretched ruler' since his revelation a couple of months ago that he influenced the judiciary to get a clean chit in the infamous Kozhikode ice-cream parlour sex scam of 1990s.