Crime Branch to probe alleged audio clip on 2018 Kerala floods

Thiruvananthapuram, Jul 14 (PTI) Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala on Tuesday ordered a Crime Branch investigation into an audio clip that allegedly suggests the devastating 2018 Kerala floods were man-made and the result of a criminal conspiracy. The audio clip purportedly contains the voice of former Electricity Minister K Krishnankutty. The probe was ordered following a complaint by a private individual seeking a detailed investigation into the authenticity of the recording and the allegations made in it, an official release said here. The complaint sought a comprehensive inquiry to ascertain the truth behind the audio clip, following which the home minister directed the Crime Branch to investigate the matter, it said. The controversy first surfaced during the Assembly election campaign in April this year when Congress MLA Mathew Kuzhalnadan alleged that the 2018 floods were caused by the "corruption and greed" of the then Left government, which had delayed the opening of certain dams to benefit private business interests. To support his allegations, Kuzhalnadan had played what he claimed was an audio recording of Krishnankutty, the electricity minister in the second Pinarayi Vijayan-led government, in which he appeared to blame Mathew T Thomas, the then Water Resources Minister in the first Pinarayi Vijayan government, for the 2018 floods. According to the purported recording, Krishnankutty said the shutters of the Thottappally Spillway in Alappuzha district were opened a month late to prevent sand, which a private company had been permitted to mine, from being washed away. The clip also purportedly said that water was allowed to accumulate in another dam managed by a private company for power generation and that its shutters were opened only after the reservoir became overloaded, resulting in flooding downstream. Then Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had rejected the allegations, saying expert findings had clearly established that the 2018 floods were "not caused by human intervention, but were entirely due to natural factors". Krishnankutty denied making the statements attributed to him and claimed the audio clip could have been created using Artificial Intelligence (AI). He said he would initiate legal action over the matter. He also defended Thomas, who is his party colleague, saying the former minister would never have acted in the manner alleged in the recording. Thomas also rejected the allegations, citing a study by IIT Madras, which, he said, found that the floods were caused by exceptionally heavy rainfall and found no wrongdoing in the operation of the dams. Both Krishnankutty and Thomas had maintained that there was no delay in opening the dam shutters and described the allegations as politically motivated and linked to the Assembly election campaign. PTI TGB KH