An ice cream in Kerala that's frozen in time

Thiruvananthapuram - An ice cream does not take more than 15 minutes to melt, but in Kerala a case that began from an ice cream parlour has acquired notoriety and refuses to melt even after 15 years. On Friday, it came up in the Supreme Court and in a lower court in Kozhikode.

One of the main actors in this case, tagged the "Kozhikode ice-cream sex parlour case", is 88-year-old CPI-M veteran and Leader of Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan, who has been following its ups and downs from the trial court in Kozhikode, through the Kerala High Court and all the way up to the Supreme Court.

Also figuring in the case is powerful Indian Union Muslim League leader and Industries Minister P.K. Kunhalikutty, whose name the Supreme Court cleared in 2006.

On Friday, the case figured in the Supreme Court following Achuthanandan challenging a recent Kerala High Court order disallowed his request for the report on the investigation that he launched in 2011 January when he was the chief minister.

Observing that Achuthanandan was entitled to the report, the apex court asked the state government to submit an affidavit and posted the case for further hearing.

The case came up in the Kozhikode court after Achuthanandan had approached it June 19 stating that the probe he had launched was sabotaged by the present government, which came to power in April 2011 in which Kunhalikutty is a minister.

The court did not accept the petition but asked him to appear in person on Friday, which he did. The case has been posted for July 30.

Over the years has had a tough time in this case in which an ice cream parlour in Kozhikode was being used to lure young women, especially teenaged girls into prostituion for the high and mighty.

Kunhalikutty lost his ministerial berth in 2005 after the media reported fresh revelations in the case by one of the victims, a woman from Kozhikode named Regina. A year later, Kunhalikutty had to bite the dust at the 2006 assembly polls and went into a temporary hiatus.

All was calm till last January, when the issue blew up again following allegations by Kunhalikutty's co-brother, K.A.Rauf, considered his closest aide, that the truth had been swept under the carpet by influencing even the judiciary.

Not one to loose a golden opportunity, Achuthanandan, who was then the chief minister, immediately launched a fresh probe and made it the biggest issue for the April 2011 assembly poll. His Left Democratic Front, however, narrowly lost power, winning only 68 seats to the 72 of the Congress-led United Democratic Front.

Thereafter, Achuthanandan approached the Kerala High Court for a CBI probe into the case, but was turned down. He then went to the Supreme Court and will now await the verdict of the Kozhokode court.

In all this, Kunhalikutty remains stoic.

"I know this is going to haunt me for ever and I have now come to terms with this," Kunhalikutty said.