Kerala government refers rape cases against Congress leaders to CBI

The move by the CPM-led LDF govt in Kerala triggreed accusations of the reference of these cases to CBI being a political move

In what could be considered as a pre-poll political move, the CPM-led Left Democratic Front(LDF) government in Kerala has decided to refer rape cases against senior Congress leaders, including AICC general secretaries Oommen Chandy and K C Venugopal, as well BJP national vice president A P Abdulla Kutty to the CBI.

The cases pertained to sexual assault allegations raised by a woman who was the accused in a solar power project scam that rocked Kerala during the term of the previous Congress government in Kerala led by Chandy. The fresh development assumed political significance as Chandy has been now brought back to the forefront of the Congress-led United Democratic Front leadership in Kerala to lead the front in the upcoming Assembly elections in the state. He was also made the chairman of the Election Management and Strategy Committee constituted by the AICC recently.

While the Pinarayi Vijayan government's justification for the present move to refer the cases to CBI was a request of the complainant woman in this regard, Congress leaders alleged that it was nothing but a political stunt eyeing elections. Chandy reacted that the left-front government was answerable to the people on why they did not initiate any effective action on the allegations of the woman over these years.

BJP state president K Surendran also said that the Vijayan government was trying to fool the people by not initiating any effective action in the cases so far and seeking CBI probe as the elections were approaching.

Apart from Chandy, Venugopal and Kutty, Lok Sabha MPs Adoor Prakash and Hibi Eden and A P Anilkumar were the others against whom rape cases were registered based on the woman's complaint. While the case against Kutty was registered in 2016, other cases were registered in 2018 and 2019.

Though a couple of teams led by ADGP rank officers were entrusted with the probe during the previous years, they were learnt to have maintained that there was no evidence for the allegations. A police Crime Branch official told DH that apart from the statements of the complainant, no evidence could be found and hence no further action could be taken in the cases.

Even as the woman earlier raised sexual allegations against Kerala Congress leader Jose K Mani, who recently joined the left-front, she did not lodge a complaint against him and hence no case was registered against him.