Fact Check: How Right-Wing Twists CPM Leader’s Daughter’s Plea Into A Fake ‘Kerala Story’ Narrative
A 35-year-old woman from Uduma in Kerala’s Kasaragod district, Sangeetha P.V., has accused her family — including her father, CPI(M) leader P.V. Bhaskaran — of isolating, silencing, and falsely implicating a Muslim man who had supported her during her illness.
But as her video plea went viral, sections of the right-wing social media ecosystem repackaged her ordeal into a completely different story — one that mirrored the propaganda narrative of The Kerala Story.
The woman’s anguish was reframed as yet another case of a “Hindu woman trapped by a Muslim man,” despite her own words directly contradicting that claim.
The controversy began when a video of Sangeetha emerged on October 21. Sitting in what appeared to be her room, she introduced herself as a grown woman “imprisoned in her own house.”
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In the video, she alleged that her father and brother had locked her inside, taken away her phone, and filed fake cases against a Muslim man named Rasheed, whom she described as a friend and supporter during her recovery. “Don’t I have the right to live freely?” she asked in the video. “I want the world to know my truth. I request the Opposition leader to intervene. I ask the media to come home and find out the truth.”
Her written complaint to the Superintendent of Police, Kasaragod, stated that she was paralysed from the waist down after a road accident in 2023 and that her family had been mistreating and confining her ever since she expressed the desire to marry Rasheed, who had assisted her as an Ayurvedic practitioner.
She further alleged that her family was planning to “put her into a coma” to claim insurance money and that her divorce settlement and gold were taken away by her father and brother.
Following the uproar, Bhaskaran (73), a CPI(M) branch committee member, held a press conference along with his wife and son, categorically denying Sangeetha’s allegations.
He acknowledged that Rasheed had stayed in their home briefly for her treatment but insisted that his daughter was being “influenced” by a man who was “already married with two children.” “I am a Communist; I don’t look at caste or religion,” Bhaskaran said. “But my daughter was made to say I am communal. That’s painful,” he added.
He admitted to confiscating her phone, claiming she might have secretly used another device to record the video. He alleged that Rasheed’s motive was financial — to “get the insurance money” she was due from her accident.
Bhaskaran also said the family had spent ₹52 lakh on Sangeetha’s medical treatment and that Rasheed had taken ₹4.75 lakh for his therapy sessions, promising a refund if she did not recover within three months.
According to police records, Rasheed is married and has two children, and his wife has filed a complaint against him for neglecting his family. However, no police record supports the narrative that Rasheed “trapped” Sangeetha or subjected her to any form of exploitation.
In fact, Sangeetha’s friend Arjun filed a habeas corpus petition in the Kerala High Court earlier this year, seeking her release. The court eventually allowed its withdrawal but did not endorse any claims of “love jihad” or religious conversion.
The High Court noted that Rasheed was the central figure in the conflict and asked the police to ensure protection for the family, but it made no observation supporting any communal interpretation of the dispute.
As Sangeetha’s video circulated, right-wing accounts seized upon it, distorting the facts to fit a familiar template.
A viral post described Bhaskaran as a “CPI(M) leader who once slammed The Kerala Story as fake propaganda,” now “learning the truth the hard way.”
The post renamed Sangeetha as “Riya,” falsely claimed she had “eloped with a married Muslim man with four kids,” and twisted her own words to suggest that she had been “tortured by her lover.”
In reality, Sangeetha never said she was tortured by Rasheed. Her video explicitly accused her family of confining her and her father of filing false complaints against the man because of his religion.
Kasaragod, Kerala: CPI(M) leader PV Bhaskaran, who slammed ‘The Kerala Story’ as “fake propaganda”, learns the truth the hard way!
His daughter, Riya(name changed), fell into an affair trap of a married Muslim man with four kids.
After going with her lover, Riya now released a… pic.twitter.com/Qf18Ln9Cxc
— Treeni (@TheTreeni) October 27, 2025
Instead of focusing on a woman’s plea for autonomy and possible abuse, parts of the internet turned Sangeetha’s situation into a political weapon.
Hundreds of comments began pouring in, echoing the same fake narrative pushed by right-wing pages. Many users claimed that this was “proof” that The Kerala Story was real, using the woman’s distress to validate the film’s propaganda.
The comment sections were flooded with remarks like “Karma hit hard,” “Now the Communist leader knows the truth,” and “Another Kerala Story unfolding in real life.” Others mocked the woman’s father, calling it “poetic justice for those who deny religious conversion crimes.”
Atleast now he understands how Karma works ?!
— Random Pure Thoughts (@random_pure) October 28, 2025
What a way to learn the hard way!
Maybe this Karma could have been averted if he had not played politics over the love-jihad truth in Kerala which has ruined the lives of so many innocent girls and caused no end of suffering to their families.
This incident should change the…
— Soma Das (Modiji ka Parivar) (@SomaforBharat) October 28, 2025
