Nabbing the culprit in the Jisha murder case has added yet another ‘golden’ feather in the Kerala police cap, said state chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan this morning.
Former state home minister and current Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala too was effusive in his praise for the police department, but not before poker-facedly claiming credit for the vital clue that was collected by the original investigating team and which provided the much needed breakthrough in the case.
This after a mammoth investigation was launched during the UDF regime and brought to a conclusion almost 50 days after the brutal crime. Praises poured in from all quarters for the investigation team which was re-constituted on May 26, a day after the new Left government assumed office.
ADGP B Sandhya IPS brought the case to a close in just over three weeks, since assuming charge of the case which rocked the state for the sheer barbarous nature of the rape and murder of a 30-year old law student Jisha at her home in Perumbavoor.
“Congratulations to the investigation team that has managed to find the culprit in the case. However, we should also take note of the fact that the killer was nabbed based on the evidence collected by the first investigation team,” Chennithala was quoted as saying by various regional television channels.
It’s a different matter that the ‘original’ team could not zero in on the actual culprit despite having the vital clue in their possession all along.
It is public knowledge that the Jisha rape and murder case played an instrumental role in the UDF’s poll debacle. The prolonged delay in solving the case was one of the major factors that highlighted the government’s incompetence which subsequently led to the ruling UDF government fall flat on its face.
Chennithala however seemed in no mood to acknowledge the lapses made in the sloppy handling of the case, while quite brazenly patting himself on the back for the resolution of the case by the new police team that was appointed by the LDF government.
With such a mulish, blinkered political approach, it is indeed no wonder why the UDF failed to retain power in the recently concluded state assembly polls.
And as Kodiyeri Balakrishnan said, Chennithala can keep the slipper.