Chief Minister met Unnikrishnan Potty at ambulance inauguration ceremony, visuals released

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The release of pictures of Congress leaders with Unnikrishnan Potty, the prime accused in the Sabarimala gold theft case, was controversial. Following this, pictures were released alleging that the Chief Minister and Unnikrishnan Potty had met. Now, the CPM has clarified that these pictures are from the inauguration ceremony of the police ambulance. CPM leader K.S. Arunkumar released the visuals of this.

The Chief Minister had said in a press conference the other day that he saw Unnikrishnan Potty, the accused in the Sabarimala gold smuggling case, at the portico of the Secretariat. The ceremony was to hand over an ambulance to the police for use in Sabarimala. Sharing the footage, Arunkumar noted that many Congress leaders used some fake pictures cut from the footage of that ceremony.

The footage shows Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan attending a police function with Unnikrishnan Potty. The footage shows Potty standing nearby with the Chief Minister while handing over the key and shaking hands with the Chief Minister's political secretary, P Sasi. CPM state secretary M.V. Govindan had said the other day that one of the two photos of the Chief Minister and Unnikrishnan Potty is AI and the details of the second photo will be released soon.

After the arrest of two former Devaswom Board presidents, Left leaders including the Chief Minister had raised allegations by referring to the picture of Sonia Gandhi with Unnikrishnan Potty. However, UDF convener Adoor Prakash replied that the Chief Minister had met Unnikrishnan Potty before he did. The Congress leaders responded by pointing to the picture of Potty and the Chief Minister together.