Kerala unit to decide on sullied leader

Thiruvananthapuram: A senior Congress party leader in Kerala was facing misdemeanour charges after he and a woman were surrounded in a house in Mullambara in Manjeri municipal limits by residents in the locality and were handed over to the police.

The incident happened on Sunday night.

Rajmohan Unnithan, one of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) general secretaries, who had once been suspended from the party, was detained along with the woman after a crowd gathered outside the house. The crowd insisted that the duo be taken into custody, and police later whisked the two away.

Unnithan and the woman, identified as a resident of Kollam district, were yesterday produced before the court in Manjeri.

The KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala said "an appropriate decision" would be taken in the matter.

Former state chief minister and opposition leader Oommen Chandy said the party's decision would be announced by the KPCC president. "There will not be individual opinions on this matter. The party's official opinion will be announced by the KPCC president," he said.

However, Shanimol Usman, leader of the women's wing of the party, the Mahila Congress, has called for appropriate action against Unnithan.

Following the detention of Unnithan and the woman at the house on Sunday evening, a large crowd gathered outside the house. Some of the local people used mobile cameras to take pictures of the accused. The residents said there had been visitors to the house at odd hours and that they had been waiting for an opportunity to apprehend the suspects.