THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress party has suspended one of its general secretaries in Kerala and national council member after the police arrested him on charges of immoral trafficking.
Rajmohan Unnithan was arrested with a woman on charges under the Immoral Trafficking (Prevention) Act after they were found together under suspicious circumstances at Manjeri in the northern district of Malappuram late Sunday night.
The firebrand leader who faced disciplinary action five years back for raising similar charges against another top leader is a member of the All India Congress Committee (AICC).
Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) said late in the evening that he was being suspended pending enquiry by a single-member commission headed by senior leader NP Moideen.
He was picked up by the local people from a rented house along with the woman identified as Jayalakshmi, 32, and handed over to the police. The two underwent medical tests which proved negative to sexual contacts before being produced in the First Class Judicial Magistrate court in Manjeri that released them on bail.
Denying any sexual liaison, Unnithan, who is also a film actor, told the magistrate that the woman was a Congress party worker and they came to the district from Kollam for party work. The medical examination also found negative to sexual contacts.
He clarified that he was on his way to Bangalore in the neighboring Karnataka state to meet his son who is a student there and offered a “lift” to the woman to Manjeri where she also had some work to do. According to him, both were to meet some local people.
“The woman was a former secretary of Seva Dal (a frontal organization of the Congress party) and a recipient of the best cadet honor from (Congress president) Sonia Gandhi,” he claimed.
Police said the local people raided the house after neighbors complained that the Congress leader was frequenting the place with the woman for the past six to seven months. If convicted, he could end up in jail for a period of up to three months.
Police have also registered a case against the owner of a local garment manufacturing unit who allegedly had taken the house on rent. He also faces charges under the ITPA but was reported absconding since.
One of the general secretaries of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Unnithan had drawn flak for his remarks against prominent leaders with sexual undertones. He also faced disciplinary action after he alleged that a former KPCC president had misused the party headquarters for his sexual escapades.
No Congress leader came out in support of Unnithan while the women’s wing of the party was quick to demand disciplinary action against him. They however protested attempts by the rival leaders to portray the incident as a Congress “feature.” Earlier, Shanimol Usman, the Mahila Congress president in the state, denounced his action and demanded an enquiry as television channels flashed images of the Congress leader sitting in the police station with the woman. “This is not part of Congress culture,” she said.
Activists of rival political parties also thronged the police station raising slogans against Unnithan who had unsuccessfully contested against Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, the president home minister, from Thalassery Assembly constituency in 2006.
KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala said he would take disciplinary action against Unnithan after consulting the AICC leadership while Opposition Leader Oommen Chandy said there was no difference of opinion in the party over the issue.
“It is the KPCC president who is to take appropriate action in similar cases. We are all united and we will accept whatever decision that he takes,” Chandy told reporters here. “I have no personal opinion on this.” Unnithan was also into acting after his suspension from the party in 2004. He started off as a villain in Shaji Kailas’s blockbuster The Tiger with Suresh Gopi as a police officer in the lead. His films include Smart City, Balram Vs Tharadas, Jubilee and Kausthubham.
