Special Crime Branch team registers case against Oommen Chandy, KC Venugopal

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch on Monday filed FIRs against Chandy and Venugopal before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court here.
Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy (FIle | EPS)
Former Kerala CM Oommen Chandy (FIle | EPS)

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A special team was constituted by the Crime Branch (CB) to probe rape allegations against Oommen Chandy and K C Venugopal after the initial team appointed by the state government showed hesitancy in registering rape cases against the accused. Police sources said the initial special investigation team headed by IG Dinendra Kashyap, which was formed to probe the Solar case, was of the opinion that rape case won’t stand legal scrutiny. This presumption was based on doubts regarding the authenticity of Saritha’s complaints and the adverse legal opinion. “Though the complaints of rape have been lying with the team for some time, the officers were playing a wait-and-see game,” a source said.

Former ADGP Rajesh Diwan had also toed the same line. Since his retirement, Kashyap, who was the next senior in the team, also held the same view. Sources also revealed Kashyap has  been almost out of the investigation team, which prompted the entry of another officer -  Malabar special police commandant U Abdul Karim - as the head of the newly constituted team. The new team will have vigilance DySP E S Bijumon, Crime Branch DySP A Shanavas and couple of inspectors on board.
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he present decision to constitute a new investigation team came after State Police Chief Loknath Behera directed the Crime Branch to have a look into the case, after Saritha opted to file separate rape complaints. Earlier, the officers, despite getting a nod from the state government to do so, had desisted from taking action on the rape complaints as legal experts had pointed out that rape cases cannot be charged against all those who were mentioned in a single complaint. It was following this that Saritha chose to file separate complaints.

She had alleged while Chandy was CM, he had subjected her to unnatural sex at Cliff House, his official residence, while Venugopal had raped her at the official residence of the then Tourism Minister A P Anil Kumar.

Meanwhile, the Crime Branch on Monday filed FIRs against Chandy and Venugopal before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court here.

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