Indian President, Kerala Chief Minister urged to Extradite K.P.Mohan, other Culprits involved in Indian School Kuwait Scandal

Thiruvananthapuram --Protest campaigns to extradite Asianet Managing Editor K.P.Mohan who is one of the three sentenced to eight years imprisonment by the Kuwait Supreme Court is intensified by the Civil Liberties and Constitution Protection Council, based in Thiruvananthapuram. It has urged the intervention of President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam to extradite Asianet managing editor K.P. Mohan and two others to Kuwait after their conviction by the Kuwaiti First Instance Court in the Kuwait school scam.

Mohan was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment along with Mathew Philip, a former Kuwait government employee. The third Keralite, Thomas Chandy was sentenced to a fine of KD5000. All the three are now in their home state of Kerala. Chandy is a prominent Keralite businessman in Kuwait who has interest in at least 3 Indian schools and a number of other businesses.

In their letter to Abdul Khalam, the Council Convenors Lalu Joseph, J. Rajashekharan Nair and A. Jayakumar pointed out that his predecessor K.P. Narayanan had directed the concerned authorities to initiate action for booking all the culprits, who occupy prominent positions in India. "Now that they have been sentenced, the government should be asked to extradite them immediately. They have bungled the funds raised by the Indian community in Kuwait for a noble purpose," the letter pointed out.

They said that the presence of Mohan in a highly influential position and other convicts in India even for a minute was a shame on all Indians in the country and abroad. They should not be allowed to use the absence of extradition treaty as a cover to escape from the clutches of legal procedures established by law in another country. The letter requested the Indian president to direct the Ministry of External Affairs and the Ministry of Home to expedite steps for extraditing them immediately. It is believed that the Central Government, especially a Minister from Kerala, has been protecting Mohan and other culprits in return for a favourable media policy from Asianet, in which Mohan is occupying a crucial position.

In a similar letter to the state Chief Minister A.K. Antony, the council demanded the immediate removal of K.P. Mohan from the Journalists' Accreditation Committee constituted by the state government in August 2001. "It is a shame for our state to have an international offender to be a member of a government committee. It will be a disgrace to the entire journalists community in the country if he is allowed to continue in the committee," the letter said. The letter has also pointed out a letter Congress president Sonia Gandhi had written to Mr Antony last asking him to initiate appropriate action in the case of Mohan following complaints she received from the Non Resident Indians in Kuwait. It has been due to political protection that the culprits have been able to escape from the clutches of law.--keralamonitor.com

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