Case against suspended Cong MLA Mamkootathil to ‘cover up’ Sabarimala gold ‘theft’: BJP
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 29 (IANS) Kerala BJP President Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Saturday said that filing of the sexual assault case against suspended Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil was a strategy of the CPI(M)–Congress alliance to “cover up” the Sabrimala gold “theft”.
The case was registered just ten days before the elections, allegedly to cover up the gold smuggling “scandal”, he claimed.
He said the allegations against Mamkootathil existed even before the bye-election.
“Yet, the Congress imposed him on the people of Palakkad,” he added.
Meanwhile, former BJP State President K. Surendran demanded that the Congress leadership hand over the complaints received against Mamkootathil to the police.
He questioned why the KPCC and AICC, despite receiving complaints from several victims, did not pass them on to law enforcement.
The State General Secretary of the Youth Congress himself had publicly acknowledged complaints against Mamkootathil, yet no action followed.
Surendran asked why the Leader of the Opposition V. D. Satheesan, “failed” to inform the police.
“If the Congress claims to have taken a moral stand, then why is Mamkootathil not being made to resign?” asked Surendran.
He pointed out that even senior Congress leaders like Satheesan and Ramesh Chennithala had distanced themselves from Mamkootathil, but the leadership still refused to demand his resignation.
“This is the double standard adopted by the Congress,” said Surendran.
Surendran alleged that massive cyber attacks were launched against the victims, and even Satheesan was targeted after calling for action.
He said many girls were intimidated into silence, claiming that this was not an isolated case but part of a larger racket supported by destructive forces.
He called it an “organised crime” and accused the police of deliberate delay.
“Mamkootathil was in Palakkad, yet he was not arrested, raising suspicion that the police are waiting for him to secure anticipatory bail,” added Surendran.
He termed it a shameful failure that even after 48 hours of filing the complaint, the state Home Department claimed it could not trace a sitting MLA in Kerala.
But on Saturday, news surfaced that Mamkootathil, whose anticipatory bail plea was filed in the Thiruvananthapuram District Court, state capital city, was present to meet his lawyer on Friday, but went unnoticed, despite being in the news for the past two days, even when a look-out notice against him is now out.
The court in the capital city will hear his anticipatory bail plea on Wednesday.
–IANS
sg/svn
