Bombay HC orders Kerala CPI-M secretary’s son to appear for DNA test

Mumbai/Thiruvananthapuram, July 29 (IANS) After ducking the DNA test as ordered by a lower court in Mumbai for a few weeks, the Bombay High Court on Monday directed Kerala CPI-M leader Kodiyeri Balakrishnan’s son Binoy Kodiyeri to appear for it on Tuesday.

The High Court gave this direction while hearing Kodiyeri’s petition seeking to quash the FIR registered against him at the Oshiwara police station near Mumbai.

A 33-year-old Mumbai-based woman had filed a petition before the police alleging that Kodiyeri had sexually exploited her for several years on the promise of marriage and they also had an eight-year-old child.

After being on the run for some time, Kodiyeri this month got bail from the Dindoshi court in Mumbai on the condition that he should undergo a DNA test while cooperating with the police investigation.
But he failed to undergo a DNA test on three occasions.

On Monday, even without the woman’s counsel pointing this out, the High Court asked why he had not appeared for the DNA test so far.

The court than directed Kodiyeri to appear for a DNA test on Tuesday and asked for the submission of the test results in two weeks before the court in a sealed cover.

Last week an audio clip surfaced in which Kodiyeri is heard trying to pay money to the woman who has filed the criminal case against him, thus disproving his claim that the woman was trying to blackmail him and that he had done no wrong.

In the audio clip aired by News Television, which is in Hindi, he is heard asking the woman not to do anything in a hurry and that things will be “settled” according to her wishes.

He says that when the issue is “settled”, she should remove the word “Kodiyeri” from her name from all the records including her passport and bank accounts.

The woman says she does not want any money but he should ensure that he provides “appropriate money” for his son. The audio ends when he says he will take care of all her demands.

This conversation took place in January this year after the woman served a legal notice on him in December. After getting no response, she filed a complaint with the police in Mumbai.

According to the complaint, the woman entered into a relationship with him while working at a dance bar in Dubai in 2008 and till 2015 he used to send her money every month. She filed the FIR after coming to know that Kodiyeri was already married.

–IANS
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