The Kerala Police has taken legal action against Viswanathan Perumal, the AICC (All India Congress Committee) secretary in charge of Kerala, for making offensive comments against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. The case was registered on Thursday following remarks made by Perumal during a Congress protest rally held in Kannur.
During his speech, Perumal linked CM Vijayan with Swapna Suresh, a key accused in the gold smuggling case. He directed a series of questions towards Vijayan, stating, “I want to ask seven questions. Mr. Pinarayi sir, how is your girlfriend, Swapna Suresh? How is your best girlfriend in Kerala? Swapna Suresh has given a statement… chief minister… in your cabinet…not only the illegal, not only the harassment, not only the sexual harassment… tons of gold smuggling. The person responsible is Pinarayi Vijayan. Where is the CBI, where is the ED, where is the Income Tax? Because Narendra Modi and Vijayan are good friends,” he alleged.
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The case has been registered by the Kannur town police under Section 153 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), which deals with maliciously giving provocation with an intent to cause a riot.
Perumal made these comments while addressing the protest rally organised in response to cases filed against Congress state president K Sudhakaran and Opposition leader V D Satheesan.
Sudhakaran is facing a cheating case, while Satheesan is under investigation by the Vigilance Department for mobilising funds for a flood rehabilitation project. Perumal referenced the 1997 SNC Lavalin case, in which a CBI court allowed the discharge petition of CM Vijayan, stating, “It is a scandal of Rs 400 crore. Vijayan was not arrested, not jailed… why? It was his good relationship with Modi and Amit Shah.”
Furthermore, Perumal alleged corruption in the establishment of AI-enabled cameras for detecting traffic violations. He accused Vijayan, stating, “You have stolen the money of people. It is not your father’s money, it is not your mother’s money.”