Thiruvananthapuram: CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan made a series of admissions when he met the media for a briefing of the CPM State Committee proceedings here on Monday.
He said he had knowledge of the rape charge against his son Binoy Kodiyeri right from January when a court notice was received at his house. He also said that his wife Vinodini had gone to Mumbai to talk to the woman who had raised the charges against his son.
The CPM state secretary has opened up after a lawyer named K P Sreejith had claimed to have negotiated with the woman on behalf of Kodiyeri's family. Balakrishanan said that he knew Sreejith but said that he was not appointed as a middleman in the issue. Kodiyeri, however, said that it was Sreejith who had informed him of such a charge. "It was he who told me that such a complaint had reached the media in Mumbai. Then I had told him that we need to know the truth behind it," Kodiyeri said. He also said that he had made his stand clear at the State Committee.
When asked about his wife Vinodini's visit to Mumbai, Kodiyeri insisted that there were no attempts to settle the case.
"She (Vinodini) was only trying to understand what had happened. Any mother would have been curious. She went to Mumbai as a mother," Kodiyeri said.
Sreejith had earlier said that Kodiyeri was unwilling to believe anyone except his son.
He said that Binoy was not in the house when the court notice arrived. "When we asked him, he said the charge was fake," Kodiyeri said. The CPM leader also categorically stated that neither he nor his party would interfere in this issue. "I have told my son that he himself will have to find a way out of this," Kodiyeri said.
Now that you know about the case would you support the woman who had alleged wrongdoing by Binoy, Kodiyeri was asked. "I cannot take a stand on an issue that is in court," he replied.
Kodiyeri also said that Binoy had earlier got into trouble when he failed to repay a loan. "His interior decoration business was doing well initially. But then there was a slump, and he fell into debt," Kodiyeri said, and added: "If he had so much money this case would not have even come up."
Hasan Ismaeel Abdulla Almarzooqi, a Dubai-based businessman, had filed a complaint in 2017 saying Binoy had duped him of 10 lakh dirhams (Rs 1.75 crore). The emirate had then issued a travel ban on Binoy.
