 "Swapna Suresh, Gold smuggling case")
The sexual assault charges raised by gold smuggling through diplomatic channel case prime accused Swapna Suresh against three prominent leaders of the ruling CPI(M) triggered a political controversy in Kerala on Saturday.
Opposition Congress and BJP leaders urged the police to register a case against the trio and asked the Left government to shed its silence over the issue.
Suresh, while talking to a TV channel, had alleged on Friday that the leaders -- two former ministers and an ex-Assembly speaker -- had sought sexual favours from her.
However, neither the leaders nor the Marxist party reacted to the startling charges so far. KPCC chief K Sudhakaran and Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan said it has been seen in Kerala's history that an FIR gets registered and investigated when such grave allegations are levelled.
Pointing out the recent rape and assault cases registered against their party MLA Eldhose Kunnappilly, the Congress leaders also said if a case was registered against him based on the complaint of a woman, ruling party leaders should also be booked in a similar manner.
Union Minister V Muraleedharan also opined that her revelations before the media should be considered as legal evidence and immediate action should be taken against the accused.
"Why the CPI(M) and the Chief Minister are not reacting to the charges raised by Swapna Suresh. She is talking with evidence. A case should be registered and the charges should be probed. There is absolutely no doubt about it," he told reporters here.
Sharing similar views, Satheesan said serious charges were levelled against the ruling party leaders.
"Let the accused CPI(M) leaders prove their innocence. We are not saying now that they are guilty. But if there is an allegation, it should be investigated. The government and the police should be ready for that," he said.
He also criticised a section of mainstream media which did not report the allegations raised by Suresh.
"This is also a complaint by a woman. When a woman filed a complaint against Kunnappilly, we did not investigate the background of that complainant. We only said we would investigate the complaint and action would be taken," the LoP added.
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Meanwhile, Muraleedharan said the BJP wanted the Left government in the state to take immediate action over Suresh's charges.
"We would like to know the state government's reaction to the allegations raised by the woman. Why are they remaining silent?" he asked.
The BJP leader also urged police to record the statement of the woman based on her media interview.
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
