THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Putting an end to day-long speculations, Kovalam MLA M Vincent -- accused of rape and stalking of a house wife -- was arrested on Saturday.
The young MLA from Congress is accused of sexually harassing a 51-year-old house wife who is his neighbour at RC street at Balaramapuram.
The police arrested him after they came across scientific evidence against the MLA. They also discovered that Vincent had called the victim 900 times in the last five months.
Earlier in the day, the special investigation team interrogated him for nearly four hours at the MLA Hostel on Saturday. Vincent was interrogated at his room at MLA Hostel's Nila block on Saturday afternoon by a team led by Neyyattinkara DySP B Harikumar.
A case was registered against him following the statements of the woman who is under treatment at a private hospital in Neyyattinkara.
Initially, the police had registered a case against the MLA for abetment of suicide after the victim attempted suicide by consuming an overdose of sleeping pills. But after the victim revealed that Vincent had made sexual advances on her, the police slapped charges against him under section 376 (punishment for rape) and section 354(d) (punishment for stalking).
Vincent will be taken to General hospital at Neyyattinkara for medical examination and he is likely to be produced before the magistrate late Saturday. Anticipatory bail application moved by the MLA before the District Sessions Court was rejected on Saturday.
Vincent should resign from the MLA post : LDF district committee
The Kovalam MLA's arrested has come as major setback to Opposition UDF and its leading partner Congress. Demands for his resignation have come for various corners including from within the Congress.
In the morning, CPM veteran V S Achuthanandan had urged Vincent to step down as MLA so as to avoid putting the Kerala Assembly's reputation under a cloud. Later women leaders from Congress including Bindu Krishna and Shanimol Usman too demanded Vincent's resignation.
Earlier in the day, LDF district committee demanded the resignation of M Vincent. Addressing media-persons, CPM district secretary Anavoor Nagappan said the housewife was frequently harassed by the MLA for several years. He said the victim had revealed this to a priest and a nun and this is more than enough to prove that Vincent is guilty.
"Vincent should not continue as a legislator. He should be removed. It's a disgrace to democracy," he said. LDF
district committee will stage agitation in front of Secretariat demanding the resignation of Vincent.