I never saw the woman, but was accused in the sex assault case… had to leave my homeland: Kerala leader Abdullakutty

The woman complainant raised the allegation of sexual assault against me after the solar scandal emerged. At the time, I was a Congress leader and was the first to face the allegation. I had never even seen that woman. My daughter was then in school, my wife was working with a dental clinic… My daughter told me she faced insults from classmates, her friends ridiculed her as the daughter of a rapist. She did not want to go to school. She said she wanted to move to a place where people did not watch Malayalam TV news. We then decided to move out of Kerala and settled in Mangaluru. It was an exile from my home land. Now, my wife is an administrator with a medical college and my children are in college.

* Why do you allege a Congress conspiracy in the charge against you?

When the allegations emerged in 2014-15, I was a Congress legislator. However, I was treated as an outsider as I had come from the CPI(M) after being a two-term MP. I was not part of any group in the Congress. I believe that the sexual assault allegations were raised against me only to divert attention from the solar scandal, which was basically a cheating case.

… Several Congress leaders were involved in the business of solar power solutions, which the woman concerned promised to provide. Those leaders were like father and uncle to her. The cheating complaint emerged only when their solar business failed to take off. By then, several people had lost their money. As the leaders found themselves in the dock, they wanted to divert focus from the cheating case.

I believe Congress leaders were behind the allegation against me. I don’t want to name anyone at this stage. I had never seen that woman, but I was the first to face the allegation. The thought in the Congress then was to let Abdullakutty face the humiliation.

*How did the CPI(M) treat the allegations against you?

Congress leaders might have been behind the allegations, but the CPI(M) and its youth wing Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) took up the issue to target me. I was assaulted at public places.

On one occasion, I thought I would even be killed by CPI(M) and DYFI men. I had to plead for my life during an assault. The CPI(M) subjected me to a public trial. Congress leader K Sudhakaran, now its state president, wanted me to go into hiding. I did not… I continued my public life weathering the insults. The media created a hype around my case, but I faced that with humility. Now, both Congress and CPIM) leaders should feel regret for having targeted me in such a manner.

* Did the experience prompt you to quit the Congress?

Yes, this was one of the factors that prompted me to leave the party. I did not get any legitimate protection or benefit from the law even though the Congress was ruling the state. Then DGP (Prisons) T P Senkumar told me that as the woman complainant had a criminal background and that a verification should be done before registering the FIR. He wanted to speak to the Home Minister (Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala). The police, which was under Chennithala, could have written off the complaint against me as baseless after a quick verification. After Pinarayi Vijayan came to power, he also tried to prolong the issue to harass me.