Booked for Reporting? Kerala Police's shocking action against Asianet News Chief Reporter Akhila Nandakumar

Maharaja's mark list controversy: Asianet News chief reporter Akhila Nandakumar is booked by the Kerala Police merely for reporting on the alleged malpractices of some members of the Left-backed Students' Federation of India at the Maharaja's College.

In a brazen violation of Press freedom, the Kochi City Police has implicated Asianet News chief reporter Akhila Nandakumar, who has been relentlessly reported on the Maharaja's College mark list controversy, in a conspiracy case. 

The police action was based on a complaint lodged by the Left-backed Students' Federation of India State Secretary PM Arsho's complaint. What's shocking is that the complaint was taken at face value and Akhila Nandakumar was booked without even conducting a preliminary investigation. 

Maharaja's College Principal V S Joy and Department of Archeology head Dr Vinod Kumar are the first two accused. KSU State President Aloysius Xavier and KSU Maharaja's Unit President CA Faisal are the third and fourth accused. 

Akhila and her cameraman had reached the Maharaja's College campus on the June 6 to seek details in the forgery case of former SFI leader Vidya. Vidya is on the run ever since she was accused of forging documents to secure a guest lecturer position in the government college.

Akhila spoke live to the principal and the Malayalam section teacher on the 11 am news and sought details. Akhila also asked the student representatives present in the principal's room for their response regarding Vidya's forgery. 

It was then that one of the student representatives raised Arsho's mark list controversy, saying that there was another issue more important than this.

With this, the SFI state secretary's mark list controversy along with the forgery case came to the fore. Arsho interpreted this incident as a conspiracy against him and approached the police. It was on this complaint that the Kochi Central Police registered a case against Asianet News chief reporter Akhila Nandakumar. 

The police levelled conspiracy charges against the journalist who went to the campus to bring the information in the forgery case to the general public. On the complaint of the SFI state secretary, the state home department, which could not even find the accused Vidya in the forgery case, registered a case with lightning speed and investigated it with a special investigation team.