Kerala Governor alleges, CMO official stopped police action during 2019 Kannur University protest

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan on Monday accused KK Ragesh, the private secretary to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, of preventing the police from acting as Khan faced protests from delegates at the Indian History Congress in Kannur in 2019.

Back then, Khan faced criticism over his remarks on the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) and historian Irfan Habib vehemently protested against the governor allegedly interrupting his speech at the congress.

The governor trained his gun against, as reported by the Indian Express, a senior functionary whom Arif Mohammed Khan later identified as KK Ragesh, the former Rajya Sabha member.

Interacting with media at Raj Bhavan, the governor presented a video of the 2019 event that showed KK Ragesh, Iran Habib and Kannur University vice-chancellor Gopinath Ravindran.

Khan alleged that Ragesh stopped the police from giving him protection, before going down from the dais joining the protest.

As well as saying that police wanted to take action unless they were prevented, the governor added that the person who should have instructed the police was party to the conspiracy, and he alleged that Ragesh was rewarded for the conspiracy with his position in CM's office.

Arif Mohammed Khan urged the media to investigate as he didn't want the police to probe it.

Quoting 124 of the IPC related to assaulting the president, Governor and others, he said that it is a cognisable offence and the police can take suo motu case on the issue without any body complaining.

The governor last month stayed the appointment of K K Ragesh's wife Priya Varghese as an associate professor of Malayalam in Kannur University over alleged violation of norms and favouritism.

Alongside, the governor issued a show-cause notice to Kannur University vice-chancellor Gopinath Ravindran on the matter.

In addition to his vehement criticism against the senior functionary, the governor raked up on Monday the issue of re-appointment of Dr Gopinath Ravindran as the Kannur University Vice-Chancellor.

Arif Mohammed Khan opened up a hornets' nest alleging that Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had personally sought the re-appointment of Dr Gopinath Ravindran meeting him at the Raj Bhavan.

Khan was quoted at the press meet as saying that he had told the chief minister that weightage would be given to him and Khan released a few letters written by the chief minister to the Raj Bhavan in this regard.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Assembly last month passed University Laws( Amendment) Bill which will reportedly, curtail powers of the governor as the chancellor of the state universities.

However, the bill would become law only after Khan approves it as the Governor and he stressed that he would not allow the dilution of autonomy of the state universities.