The Mumbai police have issued a lookout notice against Binoy Kodiyeri, the eldest son of CPI(M) state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, in connection with a rape complaint filed against him, a Mumbai police official confirmed to TNM. Binoy, who has been booked for rape based on a complaint filed by a Mumbai-based woman, has been absconding since the case was registered against him at Mumbai’s Oshiwara police station.
A team of Mumbai police that had been sent to Kerala to track down Binoy and question him were unable to find him at both his residences at Thiruvangad and Moozhikkara. His phone, too, has been switched off since, according to reports. The lookout notice comes a day before the Dindoshi branch of the City Civil and Sessions Court in Mumbai will be pronouncing the order on Binoy’s anticipatory bail plea. Binoy has been booked under Sections 376 (rape) and Section 420 (cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property on the complaint) of the Indian Penal Code.
A Mumbai-based woman, who is a native of Bihar, had filed the rape complaint against Binoy on June 13. She had alleged in the complaint that Binoy raped her for years under the promise of marrying her and that she has an eight-year-old child born out of the relationship. The police have taken her statement in connection with the case but are tight-lipped about the progress of the investigation.
The opposition in Kerala has launched an attack against the CPI(M), accusing it of shielding Binoy and has demanded that his father Kodiyeri Balakrishnan resign from his post as CPI(M) state secretary. On his part, Kodiyeri has distanced himself from the issue and told the media that neither he nor the party will be protecting Binoy and refuted allegations that attempts were made to arrive at a settlement in the rape case against his son.
Binoy, meanwhile, has denied the rape allegations against him. He had, in April, approached the police to file a counter complaint against the woman, claiming that she was blackmailing him. This is not the first case filed against the CPI(M) leader’s son. In January 2018, Binoy was booked in a Rs 13 crore money laundering case in Dubai. Later, Binoy was handed a certificate from the Dubai police which stated that no case has been registered against him.