Sasi may get away with light punishment

KANNUA: Former Kannur district secretary of the CPM, P Sasi, is going ahead with his legal practice at the Thalassery Bar, even as the party leadership is contemplating action against him.
The state secretariat of the CPM held in Thiruvananthapuram prior to the state committee meet has already decided to place him under suspension for one year from the party. This is comparatively a lighter punishment in view of the charges of moral turpitude levelled against him. A commission appointed by the party to inquire into the allegations against Sasi had found him guilty and the disciplinary action being contemplated against him was on the basis of the report of the commission, consisting of party leaders A Vijayaraghavan and Vaikom Viswan. Incidentally, the lighter punishment of sending him back to a branch committee has been rejected by the central committee of the party. It was former Chief Minister and party leader V S Achuthanandan who demanded stern action against Sasi, known as a close associate of party secretary Pinarayi Vijayan. Again, according to party sources, it was VS who raised the demand for exemplary punishment to Sasi, against whom a DYFI leader and another responsible party leader in Kannur district had raised allegations of moral turpitude.