Kerala SFI leaders involved in cases of fraud: Congress

Thiruvananthapuram, June 7

Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan on Wednesday slammed SFI leaders in Kerala for their involvement in allegedly various cases of fraud.

"Look into the numerous cases involving top SFI leaders that range from impersonation, smuggling out answer sheets of the Kerala Public Service Commission, changing the name of an elected person and bringing in a person who did not contest the election, producing fake certificates to get a teaching job, getting a PhD by writing wrong information in the thesis, altering list for admission for PhD or other related crimes," Satheesan said.

Satheesan was responding to the allegations regarding SFI leader K. Vidya being caught for getting a teaching job as a guest lecturer in a state government college using a fake certificate.

The SFI is the student wing of the CPI-M.

K. Vidya was caught after a teacher from the Government College in Wayanad got in touch with the Principal of Maharaja's Government College Ernakulam seeking clarifications �if Vidya was employed as a Guest Lecturer during 2018-19 and 2020-21.'

The Principal of Ernakulam College after verification realized that she was employed in the Malayalam Department as �Guest Lecturer' in the past one decade.

Following the clarification, the Principal filed a complaint with the local police.

Another allegation against Vidya is that she was an examiner and had done evaluation of the answer sheets for Kannur University.

According to the Kannur University rules, teachers who have completed three years of teaching can be selected for the evaluation process.

Kalady University has also decided to probe the PhD admission of Vidya.

In another case against the SFI, its state secretary P M Arsho, a MA student at the Maharaja's College Ernakulam, has passed the examination even without appearing in the third semester.

"P M Arsho has numerous criminal cases registered against him. He continues to roam freely and take part in SFI programs even when the High Court has cancelled his bail. The SFI has full support of CPI-M and the government," Satheesan said.

Kerala Congress president K. Sudhakaran said that it was because of Arsho that Vidya was able to get a fake certificate.

"Police has registered a case against Vidya. It remains to be seen if the police will act or not," Sudhakaran said.

He added that only a court monitored probe will bring out all that has been going on at the Maharaja's college.

CPI-M state secretary M.V. Govindan said that it appears that there is a conspiracy being hatched to portray the SFI and its leadership in poor light.

"Arsho is being targeted. A proper probe needs to be conducted in his case," he said.