KOCHI: Former Kerala chief minister V S Achuthanandan today approached the high court seeking a CBI probe into a case registered on the basis of claims by a relative of state minister P K Kunhalikutty that he had tried to influence witnesses in the ice cream parlour sex scandal.According to Achuthanandan, during the past seven months, no investigation was done in the case registered on the basis of statements by K A Rauf, who later fell out of Kunhalikutty's favour.Rauf had alleged that Kunhalikutty used money power and him (Rauf) to influence witnesses, prosecutors, social workers and judicial officers to escape from the ice cream parlour sex case.Disclosures made by Rauf point that Kunhalikutty was capable of 'purchasing' witnesses using his money power and influence, Achuthanandan, Opposition leader in the assembly, said, adding, his statements cannot be brushed aside.Being a minister in the UDF cabinet, Kunhalikutty wields enough clout in the government so that any investigation by police in the state will proceed in the way he wants it, the CPI-M leader said.A special investigation team, constituted on February 3 following Rauf's disclosures, was only 'inching ahead' in the matter of investigation, he said in the petition which is likely to come up on Monday.The sex scandal had rocked Kerala in the late 1990s when it came to light that an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode was being used to lure women into prostitution. There were allegations about Kunhalikutty's involvement in the case, but he did not figure as accused in the case.
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