Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala asked Prime Minister Narendra Modit in two separate letters to order a probe into the circumstances leading to the death of former Union minister and IUML leader E Ahamed.
In his letter to Modi, Vijayan said a probe should be held on all matters that happened after the death of 78-year-old Ahamed, an MP from Kerala, in the wake of "anxiety" in the minds of his family members, his associates and people of the state. Steps should be taken to see that such things never recur in the future, he said.
The treatment meted out to family members of Ahamed and also to his parliamentary colleagues by the authorities of RML Hospital, where Ahamed was admitted after he collapsed in the Parliament, caused concern, Vijayan said. A humanitarian consideration should have been extended in a situation like that, he added.
In his letter to PM, Chennithala said the entire episode has raised some serious suspicions among the general public and asked for a high level enquiry.
Earlier, the matter was also raised in parliament on Friday as Rajya Sabha member and CPI(M) leader Sitaram Yechury sought probe into the matter in the Rajya Sabha. In the Lok Sabha when some Opposition members, particularly those from Kerala, raised the matter around 1 p.m., there was a heated exchange between TMC MP Saugata Roy and some BJP members, forcing Speaker Sumitra Mahajan to adjourn the House for the day.
Congress, IUML and relatives of Ahmed had alleged that the Centre deliberately delayed the announcement of the death of Ahamed, who collapsed in the Parliament on January 31. He died at 2.15 am on February 1 in RML Hospital where he was admitted on Tuesday and put on artificial life support.
