The registration of a case of rape against Binoy Kodiyeri, son of Kerala State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) Kodiyeri Balakrishnan by the Maharashtra police last week threatened to snowball into a major political controversy on Tuesday.
The news that the Oshiwara police had booked Mr. Binoy on the charge of having raped a 33-year-old woman from Meera Road in Mumbai appeared not to augur well for the public image of the ruling front, which had faced a shocking defeat and massive erosion of votes in the recent Lok Sabha election.
According to the First Information Report (FIR) filed by the Oshiwara police (FIR number 237/2019 dated June 13), the woman had accused Mr. Binoy of having cheated her into a long term conjugal relationship on the promise of marriage. She claimed she had an eight-year-old son from the affair, which commenced when she worked as a danseuse in a bar hotel in Dubai in 2009.