Kerala editor held for article on Gulf-based businessman

Thiruvananthapuram,  T.P. Nandakumar, editor of a periodical and petitioner in a scam related to renovation of power plants in Kerala, was taken into custody Saturday for publishing a defamatory article on a non-resident Indian businessman, police said.

Nandakumar, who edits a Malayalam periodical named Crime, was arrested on a complaint by Abu Dhabi-based businessman Alexander, who hails from the state's Kottayam district.

Alexander had complained to police here that in Nandakumar's online magazine there was a write up defaming him.

Sukumara Pillai, who heads the cyber cell of Kerala Police, told IANS that the case has been registered under the Information Technology (IT) Act because the defamatory article came in the online magazine.

'This news had earlier appeared in his periodical and Alexander petitioned a court. In the court Nandakumar had said that he will not publish anything on this unless the petition is disposed,' said Pillai.

'It was then that this news appeared in his online magazine. Since it violates the IT Act, we took Nandakumar into custody from Kochi. We recovered evidence from his Kochi office and then the officers went to a place called Pala, from where this article was uploaded,' said Pillai.

He added that it was a bailable offence.

'The case will go on and if proved guilty, then the accused can get a jail term for nearly three years,' added Pillai.

Nandkumar is a complainant in the multi-crore rupee scam, also known as the SNC Lavalin case, in which the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has chargesheeted Communist Party of India-Marxits state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan as an accused.

Nandakumar and Vijayan have also been involvedi in a feud. It intensified after the SNC Lavalin case came into prominence last year.

It was in June last year that the CBI filed chargesheet against nine accused in the Rs.374 crore scam related to the Canadian firm SNC Lavalin which was engaged by the state government for renovation of three power plants in the state.

Vijayan as the state power minister had inked the final agreement in 1997 for renovation of the power plants.

In December last year, Vijayan secured bail in the case.