Kochi: Maradu police arrested a Yuva Morcha leader on Friday after a woman filed a complaint accusing him of physical assault, harassment, and an attempt to murder her.

The accused, Gopu Paramasivan, is the Ernakulam District General Secretary of the Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). The complaint was filed by a 36-year-old woman, who has been in a live-in relationship with the accused for the past four years.

According to the police, the couple had been living together in a rented house at Vaikkilakara in Maradu since May 15, 2021. In her complaint, the woman, who is divorced, alleged that she had been subjected to continuous abuse throughout the relationship and bore bruises from repeated beatings.

The most serious incident allegedly occurred on Thursday when the accused reportedly became angry after she moved his helmet from a table.

The complaint states that Gopu assaulted her in several ways, such as slapping her and whipping her with an electric cable, and even attempting to murder her by suffocating her. The woman also told police she was routinely harassed and prevented from leaving the house. She alleged that Gopu would lock her inside the residence and had been physically abusive since 2021.

The arrest came after Gopu himself lodged a complaint on Thursday, claiming that the woman had gone missing. The police filed a case, traced her and instructed her to come to the station. It was there that she filed her complaint, revealing the alleged pattern of abuse.
Maradu police have registered a case and initiated an investigation based on her statement.

The accused has been charged under Sections 109(1) (attempt to murder), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 118(1) (causing hurt using dangerous weapons or means) and 74 (using criminal force to outrage a woman’s modesty), and has been remanded in judicial custody.