Former Kerala transport minister and opposition legislator Jose Thettayil, accused by a woman of sexually exploiting her, stayed away from the assembly Monday and sources close to him said he may seek an anticipatory bail.
A day after the 30-year-old woman made the allegations, police inspected a flat near Kochi where the alleged exploitation took place and checked the visitors' register and spoke to the watchmen and others.
The Aluva police registered a case against Thettayil, 62, and his son Adarsh after the woman alleged that the two "exploited" her.
The woman handed over a 15-page complaint, along with a CD, claiming that the father-son duo "used" her. The time when the alleged exploitation took place was not revealed by police.
The woman alleged that the former minister reneged on a promise that his son would marry her.
The parents of the complainant told the media that Thettayil had gone back on his decision to get their daughter married to his son.
More From This Section
Soon after the filing of the complaint, Thettayil, a Janata Dal-Secular legislator, denied the allegation and accused the woman of morphing his picture along with her on the bed. On Monday, he stayed away from public glare and could not be contacted.
Angry party activists of the Congress-led United Democratic Front marched to the legislator's house near Aluva shouting slogans against him.
In the state's capital city, the top brass of the Left Democratic Front, to which Thettayil belongs, went into a huddle and later leader of opposition V.S. Achuthanandan of the Communist Party of India-Marxist took a stand that the former minister should quit.
Achuthanandan said Thettayil knew what was needed to be done. "Let us wait and see."
The former minister's fellow party legislator Mathew T. Thomas said: "I have heard what Thettayil had to say in this matter and our party will sit down and take a decision. At the moment, I can't tell what the decision would be."