Supreme Court notice to Kerala government, CBI in ice cream parlour sex case

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notices to Kerala government and others on a plea of former Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan seeking a CBI probe into the Kozhikode ice cream parlour sex scandal.

A bench headed by Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai sought responses from the state government and others including CBI on a plea of former chief minister that criminal justice has been subverted in a systematic manner in this case that can be rectified by only ordering an independent probe.

"Young girls have been sexually exploited and to suppress the shocking incident monies have been exchanged. Unfortunately, the high court glossed over it," senior advocate Shekhar Naphade, appearing for the former CM, said.

"This is the shocking state of affair to say the least. I am afraid if this case does not warrant a CBI probe then which case will merit such kind of investigation," he said, adding that even after lapse of a decade, the investigation has not moved.

The senior advocate said he does not want to disclose the names of the culprits in the open court as it will be "embarrassing for the institution".

The former CM has moved the apex court against an order of Kerala High Court which had dismissed his petition seeking a CBI probe in the case allegedly involving Industries Minister P K Kunhalikutty.

Achuthanandan had approached the high court stating that the investigation in the case following fresh disclosures made by K A Rauf, a close relative of Kunhalikutty, in 2011, was not done in the right manner and hence only a CBI probe could bring out the truth.

The high court, however, had noted that even though the court was not going into the details of the investigation, from what had been pointed out on the lapses in the probe, it appeared to be grave and the petitioner could approach the magistrate's court if he had any grievance.

The former CM's petition seeking CBI probe has been dismissed twice, first on September 27, 2011 and second on August 30 this year.

The new disclosures by Rauf had come a few months ahead of the April 2011 assembly polls and Achuthanandan, as the then chief minister, had ordered a fresh probe by a senior police officer.

The alleged sex racket in early 1990s involved an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode as its base and was flagged the "ice cream parlour sex case" by the media.

The ice cream parlour was allegedly used as a cover for running the sex scandal. Since then, the case has been vigorously taken up by Achuthanandan and it was dismissed by the Supreme Court which gave a clean chit to Kunhalikutty, an Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) leader, in 2006.

Though Kunhalikutty never became an accused in the case, he had come under a cloud in the wake of the scandal and even had to quit the ministry then.