A court in Mumbai on Wednesday granted anticipatory bail to Binoy Kodiyeri, 37, son of CPI(M) State secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, in a sensational rape and cheating case registered against him by the Oshiwara police in June.
Lawyers told The Hindu in Mumbai that the court asked Binoy to execute a bail bond of ₹25,000 and produce at least one person as surety.
The judge also ordered Binoy to be present at the Oshiwara station house between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. on all Mondays for one month. The judge ordered Binoy not to leave the country without the permission of the court. The accused should not intimidate witnesses, threaten the complainant or tamper with evidence.
He should cooperate with the investigating officer and provide blood to conduct a DNA test to verify whether he was the biological parent of the complainant's child.
The reprieve came after Dindoshi Additional Sessions Judge M.H. Shaikh heard the detailed arguments of the complainant, a 33-year-old woman who worked as a bar dancer in Dubai, and Binoy's counsel.
The woman's counsel had argued that Binoy, a Dubai-based businessman, had cheated her into a long connubial relationship promising marriage. They had a child from the nine-year-old union, which commenced in 2009.
The woman told the court that she was constrained to register a complaint of rape and cheating against Binoy after he backtracked on his earlier commitment to marry her. She said the last straw was when she learned that Binoy was married well before they met and had two children. The complainant also told the court that Binoy had threatened to harm her and the child. Moreover, his father headed the ruling party in Kerala and was a former Home Minister.
Binoy's counsel dispelled her claim and said the case against his client was the fallout of failed bid on the part of the woman to blackmail the politician's son.
The police had opposed Binoy's anticipatory bail on the ground that they required his custody for questioning and also to conduct a DNA test. The prosecution alleged that he had not heeded to its summons, remained non-cooperative and incommunicado, and his whereabouts were unknown.
