Kollam MLA Brands Leaked Phone Call With Student Planned Harassment

Malayalam actor and CPI(M) M Mukesh has landed in trouble after a phone conversation during which he was yelling at a boy was leaked. The caller claimed to be a Class 10 student from Ottappalam, Palakkad district, in the phone call. Although the caller said he was calling about an urgent problem, the CPI(M) politician refused to listen. Mukesh was overheard yelling at the boy, demanding to know why he didn't contact the Palakkad MLA instead.

The teenager was overheard claiming that he obtained the number from a friend and called to inform the Kollam MLA of an urgent problem. Mukesh responded by telling him that the friend who provided him with his phone number should be slapped in the face. 

The actor-politician then inquires as to who is the MLA in the boy's constituency. When the boy stated he didn't know, Mukesh said he would have thrashed him with a cane if he had been in front of him. While the child continues to apologise, the Kollam MLA continues to chastise him. Mukesh also tells him that he should not call him again. Mukesh never asks or listens to what the boy's concerns are during the phone conversation.

Following the release of the phone conversation, Mukesh rushed to Facebook to explain that he had been receiving many calls on his phone since the Assembly election results.

"Since the election results I have been getting calls. Within an hour my phone would drain out of charge. Some complain that there is no current, some would ask why the trains are late. It is like a planned harassment. They were trying to provoke me but couldn't win until now," the MLA said.

This boy phoned Mukesh when he was in a Zoom conference, he claimed. He said that he had taken the boy's initial call and informed him that he was at a meeting and would return his call.

"But he kept on calling six times. Finally, the meeting had to end," Mukesh said, alleging that someone had planned to harass him using the boy. If he were so innocent why did he call six times, why did he record the phone call? So everything is planned," the MLA said.

He added that nobody should teach him how to behave with children. Mukesh further clarified that his suggestion to thrash the child with a cane was only a metaphor. Meanwhile, the caller has been identified.

Vishnu from Ottapalam claimed he called repeatedly since he didn't realise the MLA was preoccupied.

'Was my mistake, I called continuously', recalls a student who spoke with MLA Mukesh.

In an incident in which Mukesh, a Kollam CPI(M) legislator, shouted at a 15-year-old student over the phone, the boy said that he had called to ask for assistance in purchasing a phone for a classmate who wanted to take online classes. 

"My friend did not have a phone, so to help him I called the MLA. I called thrice, then he picked up the phone and said he would call me back. Later, I called thrice again and distrubed his meeting. Then he called me back. In our school group the teacher had put a message asking to help students who don't have phones. So I thought to help," Vishnu told the media.

Mukesh also alleged that the phone call was part of a plot to harass him. He said that he had been receiving a lot of calls recently and that he was getting irritated. 

Vishnu, on the other hand, has refuted the charge and said that he did call for help. Vishnu also informed the reporters that he had no concerns with the MLA since anyone would get irritated if they were repeatedly called on the phone. Vishnu's parents also told the media that they were unaware of the situation until it was reported in the media.

Meanwhile, on Monday, young Congress workers protested in Palakkad, carrying cane sticks and torching Mukesh's effigy.