KASARGOD: A court in Kanhangad on Friday dismissed a rape case against influential CPM leader P Sasi after the police found the allegation baseless. Hosdurg First Class Judicial Magistrate Court II dismissed the case without trial.
Sasi was the CPM’s Kannur district secretary when he was expelled from the party over allegations of sexual misconduct in 2011. He was also the political secretary to E K Nayanar when he was the Chief Minister, and was considered the ‘power centre’ during the tenure.
His political stock took a hit when a woman DYFI leader reportedly filed a complaint with the party that he sexually assaulted her. The alleged incident happened when she visited him at a naturopathy centre in Nileshwaram in 2010.
Based on the internal complaint, the party demoted him from Kannur district secretary to the Peralassery Keezhara branch committee on December 13, 2010. Officially, he was demoted because of ‘health reasons’. The case, however, became a public scandal in February 2011. In mid 2011, the CPM’s state committee expelled him from the party.
On June 7, 2012, T P Nandakumar, chief editor of ‘Crime’ magazine, filed a petition before the Hosdurg court, accusing Sasi of sexually assaulting the woman. Based on the petition, the court directed the Nileshwaram police to file a case. The then Nileshwaram circle inspector C K Sunilkumar investigated the case and found no basis in the allegation.
The judge dismissed the case after police submitted the report. Party sources said Sasi was likely to make a comeback into active politics. They said he had met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in the past few days.