New Delhi, Nov 22 (IANS): The Supreme Court Friday issued notice to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Kerala government on a petition seeking a CBI probe into the ice cream parlour sex scandal in the southern state.

The alleged racket in the early 1990s involved an ice-cream parlour in Kozhikode as its base and was dubbed by the media as the "ice cream parlour sex case".

The apex court bench of Justice Ranjana Prakash Desai and Justice C. Nagappan issued notice on a petition filed by former Kerala chief minister V.S. Achuthanandan who demanded a CBI probe, alleging that the state police were not effectively probing the matter.

Appearing for Achuthanandan, senior counsel Shekhar Naphde told the court that the police probe has revealed the names of 22 people who are allegedly involved in the scandal. He said the names were not made public as it would be very embarrassing.

Achuthanandan has challenged Aug 30 order of the Kerala High Court which, while declining investigation by the CBI, had said the probe report is with the magistrate and it would not interfere with it.

However, the high court described the report as "very serious".

"Petitioner is former chief minister," Naphade said, adding that "there is an attempt to shield someone" and "unless there is more independent probe, this is a shocking state of affair".

Referring to the police report, Naphade told the court that young girls were exploited and were paid money to suppress the matter.

"The statement of every single girl was recorded and next day the statements were changed," counsel told the court, offering to divulge the names of all the 22 people named in the probe report.

The court issued notice to the Kerala government, the CBI and other respondents.