Two youths drown

KULATHUPUZHA: Two youths drowned while trying to bathe in the Kallada River. The duo has been identified as Vipin (19) and Jithu Methew (19), natives of Anchal.

Three found dead in Kollam

KOLLAM: A woman, son and her lover were found dead at their residence in the district. The dead have been identified as Anikumari (42), a nurse of Kollam district hospital, her son Akhil (14) and lover Hemant (43). The bodies were found early Friday at their rented house in Kadappakkada.

The nurse, separated from her husband was staying with her lover Hemant, a married man, for quite some time. The woman’s son was a ninth standard student of a private school in the district.

Hemant, who was an employee of a famous hotel in the district, resigned the job and started his own business. He had to close it due to financial liabilities.

The legal proceedings taken by Hemant’s first wife, a teacher, disturbed him a lot.

Anikumari, who was on long leave till yesterday, was about to join duty on Friday. A suicide note recovered said that they are committing the crime due to financial liabilities.

Police said they committed suicide by injecting some medicine. After completing the proceedings, the bodies will be sent to medical college hospital in the capital city for post mortem.

Vigilance probe ordered against Minister Anoop Jacob

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Special Vigilance Court in Thrissur on Thursday ordered a probe against Kerala Food and Civil supplies Minister Anoop Jacob over allegations of illegal allotment of wholesale ration depots and accepting bribe just when he was facing the charge of failing to control the rising prices of essential commodities.

Probe has also been ordered against Johny Nelloor, chairman of the Kerala Congress (Jacob) of which Anoop is the lone MLA. The Thiruvananthapuram unit of the Vigilance has been given the charge of the investigation and the court ordered that the report should be filed before April 17.

Ice Cream Parlour Sex Abuse: Government approaches HC

KOCHI: The Kerala Government on Friday filed an appeal at the Kerala High Court against the decision of the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court in Kozhikode to give V.S. Achuthanandan the right to get copies of the witness statements related to the sensational Ice Cream Parlour Sexual Abuse case in which State Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty was allegedly involved.

The government has stated in its appeal that Achuthanandan is legally ineligible to get the copies. Meanwhile, Justice T.R. Ramachandran absented himself from considering the appeal.

Short circuit in train, two suffered burns

THRISSUR: Two passengers travelling in the AC compartment of Kollam-Chennai Special Train suffered burns in a short circuit incident on Friday night. The incident happened soon after the train left Angmaly railway station around 7 pm.

Both the passengers—a man and a woman—are natives of Pathanamthitta. They received injuries in their legs. They were shifted to another coach when the train reached Thrissur station and were given first aid by railway doctors. Fire and smoke had risen from the AC connection wire inside the B2 compartment.

The train halted for about 43 minutes after the incident. Both the passengers boarded from Pathanamthitta and were about to alight at Chennai.

Chandy toughens stand towards strike by Left unions

 
KANNUR: Toughening his stand against the ongoing employees’ strike organised by pro-Left unions, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today said he would not invite union leaders for another round of talks though they could come and meet him at any time.

Making it clear that the Government would not yield to the unions’ demand to drop the decision to implement the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS) for employees and teachers joining the service from April this year, Chandy said he did not think that the negotiations were going to be fruitful.

“I am not going to invite the union leaders for talks. They can come and meet me any time,” he told presspersons here.

Reiterating the Government’s position, Chandy said the decision to introduce CPS was taken in the larger interests of the State and the employees.

Right from the start, the Government had held that the fiscal realities of Kerala did not allow the State to continue the statutory pension scheme as 80 per cent of its revenue was spent on salaries and pension.

Chandy also dubbed the strike as “politically motivated” as the Government had not taken away any benefit enjoyed by the existing employees and teachers.

Reacting to Chandy’s stand that the unions would not be called for talks, CPI State Secretary Panniyan Raveendran said it only betrayed his “arrogance.”

Functioning of offices and schools has been partly affected by the strike, which started on Tuesday last. Stray incidents of violence have been reported from some parts of the State in connection with the stir in the last few days.