The prison department has ordered an inquiry into the use of mobile phone by jailed Kerala Congress (B) leader R Balakrishna Pillai to reply to queries from a television channel reporter.
Pillai, who was shifted to a hospital for treatment a few days ago, landed in trouble by speaking to the channel reporter on Thursday on the issue of attack on a teacher working in a school under his management.
The Opposition LDF immediately seized on the issue alleging that use of phone by Pillai involved violation of jail rules.
According to official sources, the Prison Welfare Officer has been asked to inquire into the issue.
Pillai spoke to the reporter on condition that he would not be quoted as he was not supposed to speak to media over phone since he had been undergoing imprisonment. The channel, however, aired the telephonic talk with Pillai.
Pillai was sentenced to one-year imprisonment by the Supreme Court in February last in a corruption case dating to 1980s when he was Electricity Minister in the Congress-led UDF government.
Krishnakumar (47), a teacher in a Higher Secondary School managed by Pillai at Valakam in Kollam district, was brutally attacked by unidentified persons in the wee hours on Thursday.
The Opposition had raised the issue in the state assembly demanding a thorough probe into the incident including suspected role of the school management.