Asianet News reporter booked on SFI leader's complaint following alleged ‘exam passing’ report

Thiruvananthapuram: Opposition parties and Journalists guild in Kerala are venting anger at police for charging a case against media person Akhila Nandakumar over a complaint by a top SFI leader who is accused of passing university exams without having appeared for them.

Nandakumar, a chief reporter with channel Asianet News is named fifth accused in the FIR based on the complaint by PM Arsho, state secretary of the Students’ Federation of India (SFI).

A controversy is still roiling in the state after it was reported that Arsho, an MA Archaeology student at Maharaja’s College Ernakulam, allegedly passed exams without appearing for them.

Arsho is reported to have cleared his third semester exams without writing a single paper.

The SFI leader claimed that he was not in Ernakulam at the time hence could not appear for exams.

The college authorities blamed a technical glitch at the National Informatics Centre (NIC), according to The News Minute.

An investigation is underway after Arsho filed a complaint with State police chief Anil Kant on June 8.

The first and second accused in the case are Maharaja’s Principal VS Joy and Archaeology department head Dr Vinod Kumar, while Aloysious Xavier who is state president of Kerala Students Union (student wing of the Congress) the third accused and KSU Maharaja’s unit president Fazil is fourth accused, TNM reported.

Akhila was pursuing another story on the campus when she ended up reporting allegations against SFI leader.

The accused are facing charges of 120B (criminal conspiracy), 465 (forgery), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation), and 500 (defamation) of the Indian Penal Code, according to the report.

Kerala Union of Working Journalists (KUWJ) termed the case against Nandakumar as ‘ anti-democratic and encroachment on the freedom of the media’.

Opposition leader VD Satheesan came down heavily on the case against media person saying it is a move to cover up the crime.

All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary KC Venugopal and former Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala condemned the case.

PMA Salam, State general secretary of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), said that the government is afraid of truth.

Justifying the case against Nandakumar, CPIM state secretary MV Govindan said that the case cannot be compared to the Modi administration’s ‘hunting of the media’.