Kerala government faced an embarrassment on Tuesday as R Jayakrishnan, Chief Judicial Magistrate, Thiruvananthapuram, rejected its  request for withdrawing the criminal complaint registered against six members of the legislative Assembly by Crime Branch for the brawl  and indecent behavior inside the House on March 13, 2015.

The Crime Branch case was that the MLAs who had tried to stop the then finance minister KM Mani from presenting the budget damaged public property worth more than Rs 2 lakh . This included computer terminals, mikes, chairs and other furniture.

Two ministers of the present government, E P Jayarajan and K T Jaleel figure among the six accused in the case. Government’s decision to seek withdrawal of the   case was to ‘preserve the unity of the House’, the deputy director of prosecution had told the court.

The CJM made it clear that the request to withdraw the complaint at this juncture was like insulting and humiliating the people of Kerala who were watching the live proceedings of the House.

The CPI(M) had unleashed an agitation against Mani, who allegedly took an amount of Rs 1 crore from bar owners for re-opening the bars which were shut down in the State as part of ushering in total prohibition. 

The opposition wanted Mani, an accused in the corruption case not to present the State’s 2015-2016 budget.

When Mani walked into the House to present the budget, the entire Opposition MLAs charged against him, entered into the Speaker’s Podium, pulled down the chair and computer terminals and destroyed the mike. The  pandemonium and free for all were shown live by the  TV channels.

There were name calling and physical assaults by the opposition members similar to the scenes the Rajya Sabha witnessed last Sunday.

There was a change of government in the 2016 election and the CPI(M) came close to the Mani Group of the Kerala Congress. Sivankutty, one of the accused in the case who is also the son-in-law of party ideologist late P Govinda Pillai, submitted an application to Pinarayi Vijayan who had forwarded the same to the court.   The opposition of the present assembly too had filed a petition in the court against withdrawing the case. Ramesh Chennithala, leader of the opposition said that he would not rest till the accused in the case were punished.