In a cheating case in which controversial antique trader Monson Mavunkal is the main culprit, KPCC leader K Sudhakaran was detained by the Crime Branch on Friday and later freed on bail.
After being questioned by the Crime Branch for several hours, Sudhakaran later revealed to media that he was taken into custody. ‘They questioned me. After that, they recorded my arrest and then I was released on bail. I have faith in the judiciary. I will face the case in court,’ he told reporters here.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan was harshly criticised by the national leadership of the Congress after his detention for associating him with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Jairam Ramesh, the communications-tasked general secretary of the AICC, claimed that Vijayan was acting as ‘Mundu Modi’ while the rest of the opposition was following a single course.
‘The rest of the Opposition is on one track nationally, while Pinarayi Vijayan is busy proving what has all along been known, that he is Mundu Modi. This unwarranted harassment of Kerala PCC President K Sudhakaran based on a trumped-up case will only make our resolve stronger in Kerala,’ Ramesh tweeted.
Workers from the Congress and Youth Congress took to the streets later that evening in different areas of the state to block roadways in opposition to Sudhakaran’s arrest. On TV, protest images showed party members blocking streets, torching Vijayan effigies, and organising marches around the state.
After being granted bail, Sudhakaran declared he was ‘fully confident’ that the police lacked any evidence that would allow them to punish him. He was then joined by other party leaders and members. ‘I am not afraid. I am not going to hide anywhere,’ he said.
When asked about his connections to Mavunkal, the KPCC chairman denied any. Senior party leaders in Kerala who are also members of the Congress have slammed Sudhakaran’s detention and called it a ‘political conspiracy’ in addition to the party’s national leadership.
VD Satheesan, the leader of the opposition (LoP) in the Kerala assembly, asserted that the Left government was ‘ruled by fear’ and was attempting to stifle the opposition by using such methods.
He asserted that the Left government’s claimed move to file false accusations against opposition figures who are opposing the administration and levelling corruption allegations against it would be resisted by both the Congress and the UDF opposition led by it.
Vijayan’s actions in Kerala, according to Satheesan, were a ‘carbon copy’ of what Modi was doing in Delhi.
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