The scandal involving Kerala’s Congress legislator M Vincent, arrested on Saturday on the charges of sexual assault and stalking of a 51-year-old woman, has got murkier with a sister of the victim and the wife of the MlA alleging that the arrest was the result of a political conspiracy and the police are reportedly preparing to hold an enquiry against the sister.
On Sunday, the State Congress leadership suspended Vincent, a PCC secretary, from the official positions he was holding in the party. State Congress president MM Hassan said Vincent, representing the Kovalam constituency in Thiruvananthapuram district in the Assembly, would be kept away from all the party positions till his innocence was proved.
The Congress reiterated its charge that the MlA’s arrest was politically motivated. It said the conspiracy aspect had been proved by the haste shown by the police in taking him into custody.
However, Hassan explained that the party had not thought of asking Vincent to resign as MlA. “That becomes necessary only if the Judiciary finds him guilty,” Hassan said.
According to a sister of the victim, who had accused Congress MlA M Vincent of sexually assaulting and stalking her, his arrest could have been the result of a conspiracy in which one of their brothers, an activist of the ruling lDF, was involved. The police might hold a probe against the sister on the basis of a statement by the victim that she had threatened her, reports said.
“The MlA is a neighbour and all of us have known him right from the childhood. He has been close to our family. He is not a man of bad character and nobody in our village (Balaramapuram near Thiruvananthapuram) has ever leveled such a charge against him,” the complainant’s sister told the media.
The woman had tried to commit suicide last week and a case for abetment of suicide was registered against the MlA following this. He was arrested on Saturday after the woman told the police and a magistrate that he had abused her sexually. Vincent, remanded in 14-day judicial custody by a court, is presently detained at the Sub-Jail in Neyyattinkara, Thiruvananthapuram.
“I know that my sister has psychological problems and she has been taking medicines for the past 10 years,” the victim’ sister told the media.
Vincent had said in his anticipatory bail plea that the woman was suffering from depression and had been taking medicines for that. The MlA is expected to seek bail at a court in Neyyattinkara on Monday.
“She had told me three-four months back that she and the MlA used to talk to each other frequently over the phone. I had then asked her to stop it and report the matter to her husband but she did not like my advice,” she said. According to the complainant, the MlA had sexually assaulted her several times in the past one-and-a-half years.
At the same time, Vincent’s wife alleged that there was a CPI(M)-hatched conspiracy behind the his arrest. “The local CPI(M) leadership (of Balaramapuram) and an MlA have been involved in this conspiracy,” she told the media. She also said that the complainant used to telephone the MlA even during night time requesting for help in personal matters.
The special police team probing the allegation against the MlA has collected evidences that showed that he and the woman had talked over the phone hundreds of times. Vincent himself had admitted to the police that he used to call the woman over the phone but he had done this as a people’s representative.
Sources said that the investigation team would oppose the MlA’s bid to get bail and seek his custody for further questioning and evidence-collection. The police had arrested Vincent on Saturday afternoon after questioning him for over three hours at his room in the MlA Hostel in Thiruvananthapuram.