A Raja tampered with documents, alleges Congress

IDUKKI: Local leaders of Congress and BJP have alleged rampant misuse of power and attempts to tamper documentary evidence by Devikulam MLA A Raja who had filed nomination as a member of a scheduled caste while he and his entire family have been allegedly practising Christianity for more than two decades now.
D Kumar, the petitioner in the case and the Congress candidate defeated by Raja in the Devikulam assembly seat in 2021, said that he grew up in the same Kundala Estate region where Raja was residing and knew very well that the MLA, whose election was declared void by the high court, has been a practising Christian all the while and the HC verdict was on the basis of the documents he submitted before the court as evidence.
“I had strongly objected to his candidature during the scrutiny of nominations. However, Raja produced a caste certificate issued by Devikulam tahsildarand the presiding officer turned down my objection,” Kumar said.
KPCC general secretary S Ashokan, who was instrumental in pursuing the issue legally, said that documents of Raja’s father’s baptism, his family’s application for land deed (patta) which shows the family as Christians, the photographs of his wedding as per Christian rituals, the church records showing the baptismal names of the MLA and his siblings were all presented before the HC.
“There were attempts to tamper with the evidence as well. For instance, in the page showing Raja’s baptismal name which is ‘Samson’, the column that shows his original name ‘A Raja’ has been erased, while the original names of all the other persons on the same page are seen in the column. Likewise, the funeral records of his mother who passed away in 2016 were erased and the name of a woman, who died in 2015, was written over there,” Ashokan said.
BJP district general secretary Ratheesh Varakumala said the verdict was a slap on CPM’s face.