Rahul Mamkootathil
| Photo Credit: K K Mustafah
The Kerala Police have registered a first information report (FIR) against Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil after a woman accused him of recurrent sexual exploitation, falsely promising marriage, coerced medical termination of pregnancy, verbal abuse, death threats and various violations of the IT Act.
The police fast-tracked the case after the woman and her family met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at the latter’s office in the Secretariat on Thursday (November 27, 2025).
Subsequently, a team led by District Police Chief, Thiruvananthapuram Rural, K.S. Sudarshan, recorded the woman’s statement.
The police registered the FIR at the Valiamala police station early Friday (November 28, 2025) and later transferred the case to the Nemom police station, bringing the high-profile investigation under the jurisdiction of Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner Thomson Jose.
In-camera deposition
A senior official said the police would file a petition in the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court, Neyyattinkara, seeking to record the woman’s statement in-camera under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
He said the charges against Mr. Mamkootathil include rape, obtaining sexual consent through deceitful means, possibly by holding forth a false promise of marriage, and coercing a woman into terminating her pregnancy, regardless of the gestational period.
Drugs Act violation
The police were also investigating Mr. Mamkootathil on the charges of obtaining medicines causing miscarriage without a prescription, employing an acquaintance to deliver the pills to the woman and coercing her to consume the drug, while he allegedly watched on a video call to ensure that the woman complied.
The police have named Mr. Mamkootathil’s acquaintance, one Joby Thomas, a businessperson in Pathanamthitta, as the second accused in the case.
The charges against both included violation of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act and provisions of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, which protects the reproductive rights of women, including those outside the ambit of registered marriages.
An investigator said the law mandated that only doctors could administer abortion pills after several tests, including an ultrasound scan. Moreover, the over-the-counter sale or distribution of abortion pills without a prescription puts the supplier in legal jeopardy.
Forensics role
Officials said the police would seek the help of the State Forensic Sciences Laboratory to authenticate whether the audio messages attributed to Mr. Mamkootathil on social and conventional media were genuine or had been fabricated and tampered with to discredit the legislator. The audio forensic results would inform the IT angle in the case.
The police would also seize the mobile phones allegedly involved in the crime and obtain a Section 65B certificate under the Indian Evidence Act to admit them as evidence in court. They would also employ the Cyber Forensics Wing to scrutinise timestamps and formatting to manipulate digital evidence, prove device ownership, and analyse metadata as part of the rapidly unfolding investigation.
Party suspension
The Congress had suspended Mr. Mamkootathil from its primary membership in August after accusations of serial sexual misconduct, stalking and predation, including allegedly incriminating voice clips and text messages, went viral on social and traditional media, arguably putting the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) on the defensive.
The party had also removed Mr. Mamkootathil from his post as State Youth Congress president.
Published – November 28, 2025 10:52 am IST
