The Congress on Sunday suspended MLA M Vincent from the post of party secretary, a day after he was arrested on charges of rape, reported PTI. Kerala Congress President MM Hassan said the party has decided to suspend him after considering the nature of the complaint.

Hassan, however, said the complainant’s sister was suspicious about the complaint.

“The victim’s own sister has voiced suspicion about the complainant and her state of mental health,” Hassan told reporters in Thiruvananthapuram. “But, as a party that respects womanhood we have decided to suspend him. The question of asking him to resign as a legislator is not going to take place as the case is in the court and we will wait for the outcome of the case.”

MM Hassan also called the allegations a political conspiracy. “This is nothing but a political conspiracy hatched by a CPI-M legislator and leaders of the party,” he said. “There are quite a few cases of similar nature where CPI-M members are implicated, and in such cases the police did not do anything. But in this case within a few hours Vincent was questioned and then was arrested.”

The complainant’s sister said on Sunday that the complainant had been under medication for a long time and their brother is a Communist Party of India (Marxist) activist.

On Saturday, Vincent was interrogated for more than three hours at the MLA hostel in Thiruvananthapuram before he was arrested. Vincent is a first-time legislator and represents Kovalam in the state Assembly.

The 51-year-old woman’s husband had filed a police complaint on Friday after she attempted to kill herself the previous day. He had said that Vincent had threatened and harassed his wife on the phone.

Vincent, however, had said “there was a political conspiracy” behind the allegations against him. He also filed a police complaint seeking a comprehensive investigation in the matter.