Industrialist and founder of V-Guard Industries, Kochuouseph Chittilappilly is a man known to have dedicated a chunk of his life to many causes. But his latest endeavor has become controversial and has won him fans and fierce critics. Amidst the calls for compassion to stray dogs in Kerala, Chittilappilly has been campaigning for a ‘stray dog free’ Kerala. The industrialist is all set to go on a 24-hour fast from Sunday at Kochi’s Marine Drive asking the government to act against stray dog menace. ‘End pseudo animal love’ and ‘Human life and property are more valuable than stray dogs’ are some of the slogans.
“Your support and presence only can fetch us the desired result - to save our children, women and domestic animals from the menace of dangerous stray dogs and rabies vaccine mafia.”
Chittilappilly has been embroiled in controversy after he announced support to an organization called ‘Eradicate Stray Dogs’ that had announced a reward of Rs 500 for people who kill strays.
A case was also filed against him for catching stray dogs and tying them in front of a police station recently.
The proposed fast too has come under criticism.
Gauri Maulekhi of the Animal Welfare Board of India in a statement said, “He has been claiming to be concerned about the dog population in Kerala. He has been attempting to kill dogs at various parts of Ernakulam and has gotten a few dogs killed. This is a shockingly blatant act of abetment of crime and a brazen attempt to undermine the authority of the government.”
But it not just animal activists who are training guns at Chittilappilly, a Facebook post by a man who had been injured in an accident at ‘Veegaland’ a theme park owned by Chittilappilly too is getting traction.
Vijesh Vijayan, who claims to have been semi-paralsyed after an accident 12 years ago has asked Chittilappilly if his love for human beings was conditional and why the industrialist did not bother to compensate him.
“Is it because my life is worthless that you chose not to help me and instead filed a criminal case against me? Did you hesitate to help me as that would not have got you any media attention? All human lives are equally precious,” Vijesh wrote.
In July 2012, Chittilappilly had responded to Vijesh’ allegations and accused him of being under the influence of alcohol and diving into a 2 feet deep family pool at the theme park.
“It is learnt that his friends (also intoxicated) left Vijesh , unattended in a car, in the parking area and returned to the park to have fun. They must have left, much later. Later, his relatives requested us for financial help and purely out of sympathy and as an act of grace, an amount of Rs.60,000 was disbursed, though there were no legal obligations. On false allegations, his father filed a criminal complaint against us but the police had, after an investigation, filed their final report, finding absolutely no negligence on our part. Later, raising false allegations, Vijesh Vijayan had filed W.P. (C) No. 1107 of 2007 before the High Court arraying us, the State of Kerala and others as respondents and seeking a direction to the respondents to pay compensation. The said Writ Petition is pending consideration before the High Court of Kerala. These are the real facts,” Chittilappilly had then written.