Thiruvananthapuram Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president K. Sudhakaran has suspended rape case accused Perumbavoor MLA Eldose Kunnappillil from the party for six months. He has ceased to be a provisionally KPCC and District Congress Committee (DCC) member.
Mr. Sudhakaran said the KPCC leadership found Mr. Kunnappillil’s reply unsatisfactory. He felt the MLA should have exercised caution. However, the KPCC allowed Mr. Kunnappillil to serve the constituency as an MLA, given the court’s anticipatory bail.
Meanwhile, the State police on Saturday set into motion their rape case inquiry against Mr. Kunnappillil. The legislator surrendered his passport and mobile phone in court. He turned up at the District Crime Branch office for questioning at 9 a.m. and spent the better part of the day with the investigators. The police also questioned the MLA’s driver and personal secretary who was with him at the time of the alleged assaults.
The police were circumspect about whether they would make the staff witnesses in the case. They also declined to comment on whether the MLA had stonewalled their questions.
The Vizhinjam police had indicted Mr. Kunnappillil last fortnight for raping a woman on a false promise of marriage. They booked him under Section 376 (2) (n) of the Indian Penal Code and later slapped charges of abduction, illegal detention and endangerment.
Mr. Kunnappillil remained incommunicado until the district court granted him temporary relief from arrest and incarceration by granting the MLA anticipatory bail last Thursday.
The woman, an acquaintance of the MLA, had accused the legislator of abduction, rape, endangerment and assault.
The “survivor” alleged that she had contemplated suicide to escape the politician’s torment. She alleged the legislator had assaulted her at Kovalam and local people intervened to stop Mr. Kunnappillil. Moreover, he was at the receiving end of death threats and inducements to coerce her to retract her statement against the legislator.
The State police had come under a cloud after the victim accused the Station House Officer, Vizhinjam, of attempting to browbeat her into retracting the complaint against the MLA.