Labour Minister T.P. Ramakrishnan on Tuesday claimed that striking employees had no hand in the attack on Muthoot Finance Company Ltd managing director (MD) George Alexander. A police probe was on to identify the real culprits, he added.
CITU State president Anathalavattom Anandan said the police should investigate whether the firm had stage-managed the attack to tarnish striking Muthoot employees.
Mr. Ramakrishnan said the government was examining whether Muthoot had committed a breach of contract by walking out of an agreement arbitrarily. He noted the firm had several retired IPS officers on its board as advisers. He accused the firm of repeatedly challenging the government.
However, the government was viewing the issue dispassionately. “Entreaties to Muthoot to honour the labour agreement went unheeded. The management is hostile to the government. I am also a victim of their antipathy,” he said. The Minister said the government was examining the allegation that the firm borrowed money from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and lent the cash at usurious rates to needy persons who pawned gold and other valuables as security to cover their loan.
He said the government was also probing different aspects of the company’s wide-ranging financial operations that spanned several States.
