Kerala Mayor-driver row: Congress alleges political conspiracy in missing CCTV memory card from KSRTC bus

PTI, May 2, 2024, 3:47 PM IST

Thiruvananthapuram: Leader of Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan on Thursday alleged a political plot behind the disappearance of the memory card from the CCTV camera on the KSRTC bus, which according to him, is a crucial evidence in the ongoing rift between Thiruvananthapuram Mayor Arya Rajendran and the bus driver.

Satheesan said it is suspected that the memory card was deliberately removed and destroyed, fearing that their case would be defeated if the footage came out.

“It is mysterious that the memory card of the CCTV camera inside the bus went missing during the dispute between the mayor of Thiruvananthapuram and the KSRTC driver. The memory card disappeared amid allegations that the Mayor’s husband and MLA Sachin Dev got into the bus and forced the passengers to get down,” the Congress leader alleged in a statement.

“It should also be checked whether there is a political conspiracy behind the disappearance of the memory card, which would have been a crucial piece of evidence in the case,” he added.

His statement came a day after a team of police personnel from the Cantonment station, who examined the superfast bus parked at the KSRTC depot here, failed to retrieve the memory card.

Last Saturday night, the Mayor and her family had got into a heated argument with the KSRTC bus driver after allegedly blocking the vehicle at Palayam junction.

Rajendran claimed the KSRTC bus was not blocked, but CCTV visuals aired by news channels showed her private car parked across the zebra line on the road.

She has said that she spoke to the driver while the bus was stopped at the red signal area to raise her protest against his alleged sexually suggestive gestures towards her and her sister-in-law.

The driver, who was booked in connection with the incident, has refuted the allegations.

Satheesan questioned the police for not registering a case against the Mayor and her co-passengers for blocking the passenger bus on the basis of the driver’s complaint.

“It is clear in the CCTV footage that the Mayor and her team stopped the bus. Why did the police, which file cases even if a bus is stopped as part of a protest by people raising their issues, not register a case against the Mayor and her team? Are the Kerala police scared of registering a case against the mayor and MLA?” he asked.

The LoP also sought to know if there is an instruction from the top not to register a case.

“It is unacceptable that no case is filed against the Mayor and MLA for their violations of the law. Registering the case on the basis of the complaint of one party and dismissing the complaint of the other party is discriminatory. The police and KSRTC management have seriously failed in this incident,” Satheesan alleged.