THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A woman journalist of Mangalam TV who raised sexual allegations against former transport minister A.K. Saseendran has backtracked from her decision to withdraw the complaint against Mr Saseendran.
According to sources, the woman has withdrawn her plea in the High Court to quash the complaint she had earlier filed at a local court in Thiruvananthapuram raising sexual charges against Mr Saseendran.
The fresh move has cast a shadow on Mr Saseendran's chances of re-entry into the cabinet in the near future.
Mr Saseendran had to quit the cabinet following the sexual allegations. The only other NCP MLA, Mr Thomas Chandy, who succeeded Mr Saseendran as transport minister, had to resign after a brief tenure recently following allegations against his Alappuzha resort. The NCP's plan was that the one who comes clean first could join the cabinet.
Incidentally, the woman's decision not to withdraw her complaint against Mr Saseendran came a day after the Kottayam Vigilance court ordered a Vigilance case against Mr Thomas Chandy in connection with the allegations against his resort. This would delay the chances of Mr Chandy to come clean.
The woman journalist had filed a petition before the chief judicial magistrate court after Mangalam TV telecast the sleaze talk. She alleged that Mr Saseendran made sexual advances towards her when she called him for official purpose.
However, she later submitted a petition stating that she had filed the case on the basis of a misunderstanding and that the matter had been resolved out of court. As the lower court rejected it, she had approached the High Court. During the hearing, the court had observed that there were legal hurdles in withdrawing the case charged by the police based on a complaint submitted in the magistrate court directly by the complainant.
The P.S. Antony commission that probed into the matter had given a clean chit to Mr Saseendran and even recommended stringent action against Mangalam TV.
