Kochi: Congress' Kerala President K. Sudhakaran on Tuesday filed a criminal defamation case against state CPI-M secretary M.V.Govindan, party mouthpiece ‘Deshabhimani’ and Kannur district panchayat President P.P. Divya for speaking "abject lies" against him in the case involving fraud antique dealer Monson Mavunkal.
The petition was filed by Sudhakaran himself before the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate court.
Deshabhimani had published a report last month, that Sudhakaran was present at the residence of now jailed Mavunkal, when he had abused the minor daughter of the maidservant.
The following day, Govindan cited the report at a press conference, citing Deshabhimani news and stated further, that he stands by his statement.
The same was repeated by Divya in public at Kannur, which is also the home turf of Sudhakaran and his Lok Sabha constituency.
"According to the rules, the complainant has to directly appear before the magistrate and hence, I appeared before him and registered my complaint. The court will decide on my criminal defamation petition on Wednesday,” said Sudhakaran.
"The party organ first reported that I was present at the house of Monson and later Govindan and Divya said the same. I have been badly defamed with the worst-ever allegation levelled at me. Hence, I decided to fight against this legally," he added.
The investigation team has refuted any presence of Sudhakaran during the incident.
When the issue surfaced last month, the Congress demanded that the police register a case against Govindan and the party organ ‘Deshabhimani’, but nothing happened and Sudhakaran had vowed he will take appropriate action.
The report and statement came a day after Mavunkal was sentenced to life by the Ernakulam district POCSO court. The case surfaced in 2022, when the dealer was already in jail in a cheating case, after his former woman employee complained to police that her minor daughter was raped by him in July 2019 at his place.
The young girl was promised higher education by Mavunkal and the court found Mavunkal guilty of the crime and sentenced him to a life term.