The Kerala Police on Saturday arrested Congress legislator M. Vincent on the suspicion of having repeatedly raped a 51-year-old woman and, consequently, driven her to attempt suicide. A magistrate court here remanded him in judicial custody for 14 days later in the day.
The arrest, which rattled the Opposition, was the culmination of a largely secretive investigation that unfolded early Wednesday after the victim, a homemaker, was admitted to a private hospital following a near fatal overdose of painkillers.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan described the charges against Mr. Vincent as grave. However, the Opposition legislator, who represents the Kovalam constituency in the State capital, termed them politically motivated amidst increasingly strident calls for his resignation.
Left youth organisations warned that they would boycott the legislator’s public engagements till he stepped down.
The evidence against Mr. Vincent largely rested on the sworn statements of the victim and key witnesses, a local priest and head of a nearby convent, to whom she had narrated her predicament in detail prior to her attempt to commit suicide.
Investigators also found that Mr. Vincent had established regular contact with the woman after she and her husband approached him for help against a constant pesterer. They said the victim had blocked the legislator’s number on her mobile phone to escape his barrage of unsolicited calls at odd hours.
Mobile phone metadata analysis indicated that Mr. Vincent had called the woman at least 900 times in the past months.
On Saturday, investigators confronted Mr. Vincent with their evidence and suspicions at the MLA Quarters here. He was interrogated for over three hours in his room and later at the police club where his arrest was formally recorded. The police subjected him to a medical examination to legally test his sexual potency.
Officers said the police would seek his custody to take him to the victim’s house to finalise the crime scene report.
