P C George arrested in sexual assault case gets bail

Senior Kerala politician P C George, who was arrested by the police for alleged sexual assault was granted bail by a court in Thiruvananthapuram. Counsel for George maintained that the petitioner lacked credibility.

The 70-year-old politician was taken into custody by the Museum police from a guest house in the capital city this afternoon in a dramatic move, on a complaint filed by an accused in the solar panel case. At that time, the senior politician was being grilled by a team of Crime Branch personnel in connection with a conspiracy allegedly hatched to defame the Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in smuggling charges levelled by gold smuggling case accused Swapna Suresh.

He was later taken to Nandavanam AR Camp and his arrest was recorded before he was produced before a magistrate court. Granting bail, the court directed him to cooperate with the investigation.

According to police sources, the sudden move to arrest George was made based on a secret statement given by the accused and according to a written complaint filed directly by the victim at the local police station here in this regard.

A woman accused in an infamous solar power project scam in Kerala alleged sexual assault by George in Thiruvananthapuram in February. The woman had earlier raised sexual allegations against former chief minister Oommen Chandy and many other Congress leaders. A CBI probe in this connection is progressing.

George told reporters that it was a fake case against him as part of a conspiracy as he did not concede to the complainant woman's pressure to give a statement against Oommen Chandy. He also said that he would give the petition to central agencies seeking a probe against Pinarayi Vijayan and his family members.

George, who was an MLA in Kerala for around 30 years, was earlier part of the regional party Kerala Congress and was with the CPM-led Left Democratic Front and Congress-led United Democratic Front. He is now close to the BJP-RSS and was also in the news for inflammatory statements at a Hindu meet.

The woman said in her complaint that George made sexual assault at a guest house on Feb 10. The petition was learnt to be filed today and FIR was registered under section 354 of IPC.

George was summoned by the police on Saturday in connection with the conspiracy case pertaining to the allegations against the Chief Minister. Thereafter he was arrested in the sexual assault case.

(With inputs from agency.)