Former Kerala forest minister K B Ganesh Kumar has been charged under the non-bailable Section 498 (A) of the Indian Penal Code on the basis of a complaint filed against him by his estranged wife Yamini Thankachy.
The Section deals with the provisions of cruelty by a husband or relative and attracts up to three-year jail term. However, the pleas of Ganesh and Yamini for charging attempt for murder have not found place in the FIRs registered on their separate complaints.
Ganesh can heave a sigh of relief as the High Court had recently issued a directive to investigating officials to exercise restraint and avoid a hasty arrest on the basis of the charges coming up under Section 498 (A).
The former minister will also have to reply to the bailable charges under Sections 323 and 341 for causing hurt and wrongful restraint, respectively.
The Crime Branch will probe both the complaints.
While Yamini has taken her husband to task for domestic violence and infidelity , Ganesh has alleged that he was brutally attacked by her.