Close on the heels of the forest department’s submissions before the High Court that those who hold Nelliyampathy are encroachers, forest minister K.B. Ganesh Kumar on Saturday sought a CBI probe into the encroachment.
Ganesh said he would write a letter to chief minister Oommen Chandy regarding this. Ganesh was in Aluva for a private function and to attend the housewarming of veteran actor Santhakumari.
According to Ganesh, the Crime branch probe into the encroachment cases had not been effective since nationalized banks were involved.
Ganesh added that it was suspicious that the various governments had still not ordered a CBI probe into the issue even after finding that the encroachment was serious.
The forest department, in a detailed affidavit, had made it clear that Nelliyampathy was classified under the Reserve Forest Category and all the owners of Nelliyampathy were encroachers.
Ganesh Kumar recently had openly questioned the stance adopted by the state government and the credibility of the arguments raised by government chief whip P.C. George on the Nelliyamapthy issue.
He had also confirmed his support to the young Congress MLAs who intervened in the matter.
Vigilance court Thrissur had earlier ordered a probe against K.M. Mani and P.C. George.