Malappuram: Police officials accused in a rape allegation by a housewife from Malappuram have denied the claims, alleging a conspiracy to tarnish their reputations. Tanur DySP VV Benny, former Malappuram SP S Sujith Das, and Ponnani CI Vinod Valiyatoor have all dismissed the accusations as baseless and indicated they plan to take legal action against the woman and those they believe are behind the conspiracy.
The housewife accused Sujith Das and Vinod of raping her while she was pursuing an investigation into a molestation case and also claimed that Benny had misbehaved with her. In response, Sujith Das stated that he only met the woman when she came to file a complaint against the officers. Benny, too, denied the allegations, claiming that his involvement was part of a conspiracy aimed at discrediting him, particularly after his investigation into the Muttil tree-felling case.
"There is a clear attempt to frame me as a criminal with the support of those involved in the Muttil tree-felling case. This is not the first time my name has been dragged into a baseless controversy," Benny said, referring to a previous instance when a media channel attempted to implicate him in the Tanur custodial death case. "I don't even remember if I’ve ever met this woman. Both cases—her rape complaint and the complaint against the investigation team—have been found baseless."
Benny added that he plans to file a complaint with the Director General of Police (DGP) to investigate the conspiracy and will also file a defamation case. Benny had previously investigated the high-profile tree-felling case while serving as DySP in Sulthan Bathery in 2021.
Ponnani CI Vinod Valiyattoor also refuted the allegations, stating, "I have never seen the woman outside the police station. Two separate investigations were conducted by different DySPs, and both found the claims to be false."
DySP KM Biju, who served as Special Branch DySP in 2022, confirmed that he had submitted a report on the allegations against the officers following the woman's complaint, as directed by Sujith Das. "The investigation concluded that the woman's allegations were baseless," Biju said.
