UAE's Kerala NRIs shocked, shamed by spate of 'sex, lies, videotape' scams back home

It is not so much about taking the moral high road, but finding that every road these days leads to a scam of some sort. Especially, in the South Indian state of Kerala.

That is the predominant sentiment expatriate Indians in the UAE from Kerala – who make up the majority of Indians here from a single state – are experiencing as they are confronted with sordid deals of sex, lies, videotape and untold amounts of money emanating from their home state.

The latest scam to emerge concerns a 30-year-old women releasing a video with scenes of former Transport Minister Jose Thettayil and his son Adarsh with her. She has accused Thettayil of going back on the promise to marry his son to her in exchange for repeated sex.

It is not so much that scams are sadly commonplace in India these days, but that Kerala with its high literacy, vast diaspora, strong work and cultural ethic was often looked at as a clean, model state.

This year alone that reputation has been tarnished by the following:

Sreesanth

A month ago cricketer Sreesanth was arrested in a probe that involved spot fixing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 6 T20 tournament. Sreesanth is not out on bail but is not clear of the charges yet.

Solar

Another scandal which surfaced two weeks ago and is still very much in the news is the ‘Solar scandal’.

Saritha Nair and her accomplice Biju Radhakrishnan are accused of swindling millions from people across the state in what can be described as a Ponzi scheme.

It later emerged that Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy's former personal assistant Tenny Joppan and bodyguard Salim Raj were in touch with Saritha and had made about 400 calls to each other.

Joppan has been remanded to judicial custody in connection with the scam.

Still in the fire

In the not-so-distant past the Suryanelli case where PJ Kurien, the Deputy Chairman of India’s Rajya Sabha, the Upper House of Parliament, faced allegations of involvement in the case where a girl from Suryanelli was raped, was shocking because of the seniority of the person accused.

Also ongoing is the Ice Cream Parlour case, in which minor girls were sexually exploited. Industries minister Kuhalikkutty has been accused of involvement in the case.

Mockery, shock, shame

Emirates 24|7 spoke to many Keralites living in the UAE on the issue and public reaction varies from mockery, shame to a deteriorating trust in the existing system.

“We as a society need to introspect about where the fault lines are. We have witnessed various scams and issues, but the Thatteyil case is a shocker.

“Firstly it involves a father-son duo involved in a shameless act. Secondly let us not forget about this women who is involved. She was a willing participant in the game,” said Biju C, an NRI Businessman from Trivandrum, who has been living and working here for the last 12 years.

“The system is being operated by the corrupt and the powerful. What you are witnessing today is prevails everywhere across India. In Kerala it comes out into the open,” adds Joy Matthew.

Siddeque PK feels most scams and controversies are a result of political rivalries. “Majority of these are allegations made by the political rivals to target the other.”

Sandhya N says society’s deteriorating morals is clearly evident from everything that is going on these days.

“Why is it surprising anymore? We knew betting was very much prevalent in cricket, yet we all were surprisingly shocked when Sreesanth and other got arrested. What’s more, if many more people start recording things, too many skeletons from across all sections will emerge out of the closet,” she says.

(Home page image courtesy Shutterstock)

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