Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, late on Friday, moved the District Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram, for an anticipatory bail after the State police booked him on charges of rape and coerced medical termination of pregnancy, among other charges, based on the complaint of a woman acquaintance of his.
The charges against Mr Mamkootathil also include criminal intimidation, cheating, and surreptitiously recording the private moments of the alleged victim for blackmail.
Mr. Mamkootathil has termed the complaint false and politically motivated. He also alleged a CPI(M)-BJP conspiracy to tarnish his character and erode his public standing. He argued that the petitioner had deliberately recorded their private communications as part of the political intrigue.
Mr. Mamkootathil noted that the complainant chose to leak the voice clips and chat messages to journalists, thereby prompting a punishing trial by media, rather than filing a police complaint. The court will likely consider the MLA’s plea on Monday.
Meanwhile, the State police have constituted a new team under the City Police Commissioner Thomson Jose to investigate the case. They have reportedly moved the Bureau of Immigration, a Central government agency that controls entry and exit points in the country, including air, sea and land ports, to issue a lookout notice for the legislator.
The government had established a Special Investigation Team (SIT) in August after voice recordings and text messages allegedly implicating the MLA in the suspected offence went viral, triggering a public outcry.
Consequently, the Congress suspended Mr. Mamkootathil from the party’s primary membership, forcing the MLA into political self-exile.
The SIT probe soon came to a dead end due to the absence of a complainant. However, the scandal took a sharp legal turn on Thursday, after the woman met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and lodged a formal complaint.
Subsequently, the Nemom police registered a case against Mr. Mamkootathil under relevant Sections of the BNSS, including rape by a person in a position of trust or authority; rape knowing the woman is pregnant, repeated sexual assault of the victim; causing miscarriage without consent; criminal intimidation; obtaining sexual consent through deceitful means; and causing hurt.
Officials said the police were also investigating Mr. Mamkootathil on charges of obtaining medicines to induce miscarriage without a prescription, employing an acquaintance to deliver the pills to the woman, and coercing her to take the drug, while he reportedly watched via video call to ensure her compliance.
The police have named Mr. Mamkootathil’s acquaintance, Joby Joseph, as the second accused in the case.
Officials stated that the police would seek assistance from the State Forensic Sciences Laboratory to verify whether the audio messages attributed to Mr. Mamkootathil on social and traditional media were authentic or had been altered or fabricated to discredit the legislator.
The results from the audio forensic analysis would inform the IT aspect of the case.
The police will 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 will also include the Cyber Forensics Wing to scrutinise timestamps and formatting to manipulate digital evidence, verify device ownership, and analyse metadata as part of the rapidly developing investigation.
Officials said the whereabouts of Mr. Mamkootathil, who had become active in his constituency recently and initiated a low-key campaign for UDF candidates in the upcoming local body polls, remained unknown.
Published – November 28, 2025 09:22 pm IST
