Chennithala demands NIA probe into Kerala secretariat fire

Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ramesh Chennithala demanded an NIA investigation into the fire in the state secretariat on Tuesday evening, terming it a clear case of "sabotage".

"Important files related to gold smuggling were destroyed in the fire incident. NIA should investigate the case", Chennithala told reporters in Thrissur. He said the Congress-led UDF will continue its protests seeking a probe by the central agency into the incident.

He said the opposition did not have faith in the probe being conducted by an expert panel appointed by the government. The Congress leader has shot off a letter to Governor Arif Mohammed Khan urging him to "summon" the chief secretary and the chief minister to seek "explanation" over the "gross negligence" resulting in the fire.

The government has appointed a special team headed by Disaster Management Commissioner Kaushik to probe the technical reason behind the fire. The State police's crime branch team headed by ADGP Manoj Abraham is investigating the case.

Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, BJP state president K Surendran also alleged "sabotage" in the fire on the second floor of the North Sandwich Block where certain sections of the General Administration and the tourism department are functioning. Criticising state Tourism Minister Kadakampally Surendran's statement that there was no sabotage in the fire incident, the BJP state chief asked if that is the stand of the state government, then why did the government order an investigation into the incident.

Some ministers are making statements to deviate the investigation into the case, the BJP leader alleged. The government has maintained that none of the important files were destroyed as the state secretariat had a few years ago migrated all its files to the e-files system as part of the paperless secretariat initiative.

Meanwhile, the workers of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha organised protests in Kochi and Kollam seeking resignation of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. Police resorted to the use of water cannons to disperse protesters in Kollam.

The workers alleged that the fire was a "move to destroy the files" related to the gold smuggling case. Various political organisations had taken out marches across the state on Wednesday alleging that "important files" were destroyed in the fire that broke out at the Secretariat.