A chargesheet has been filed against Congress MLA M Vincent, who has been accused of raping a 50-year-old woman in Kerala.
The chargesheet was filed in the Neyyattinkara Judicial Magistrate First class court. The court asked the MLA to appear before it on January 15, 2018.
The police informed the media that the chargsesheet has been prepared with 50 statements from witnesses. While Neyyatinkara DSP B Harikumar was in charge of the case, Kollam city police commissioner Ajeetha Begum was probing the case, reports TOI.
The rape charges were slapped against the MLA based on the statement of his 50-year-old neighbour. He was arrested on July 22 after finding scientific evidence against him and was initially denied bail by the Neyyatinkara court.
The police confirmed that there were nine witnesses in the incident apart from the victim. The other key witnesses are her brother and husband. There are records of audio conversations of the MLA in which he could be reportedly heard admitting to the offences, reports Deccan Chronicle.
Vincent had alleged that it was a politically motivated case. The MLA later got bail from the Thiruvananthapuram sessions court on August 24.
DSP B Harikumar told Express that, “All the charges against him have been proven. As far as the rape charge is concerned, he had raped ‘two times’, once at the victim’s residence and other at the victim’s shop near her residence. It is also proven MLA had threatened her over the phone many times to withdraw the police complaint. He is also charged with abetment of suicide, even though the victim had a narrow escape in hospital after attempting suicide”.
In July, Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) had removed Vincent who represents Kovalam assembly constituency, from all party positions. However, the party chose to reject the demand for his resignation as MLA, alleging the incident to be a ‘a political conspiracy’.
They also demanded a comprehensive probe into the involvement of a CPM legislator and his supporters in ‘framing’ the MLA in the case, reports TOI.
The police has filed cases against the MLA under Section 376 (punishment for rape) and Section 354(d) (punishment for stalking) of the IPC. The police had also registered a case against the MLA for abetment of suicide after the victim attempted suicide by consuming an overdose of sleeping pills.