Rape investigation against Mamkootathil gathers pace as police inspect his residence in Palakkad

The high-profile investigation into the accusations of rape and coerced termination of pregnancy against Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil appeared to gather pace on Sunday (November 30, 2025), with plainclothes officers inspecting the legislator’s residence in his constituency. 

The police also reportedly recorded the statement of the doctors who treated the alleged victim, an acquaintance of Mr. Mamkootathil, and sought the woman’s medico-legal records for further investigation. 

Officials noted that the case mainly involves alleged rape, suspected illegal abortion, and life-threatening complications resulting from the unsafe, unlawful and compelled administration of potent drugs causing miscarriage, allegedly without prescription or medical supervision.

Notably, the woman had accused Mr. Mamkootathil of delivering her abortion pills through an associate of his, Joby Joseph, and coercing her to consume the medications, while ensuring compliance via a video call.

Investigators emphasised that digital evidence, chiefly incriminating voice recordings and text messages, was vital to the case.

Therefore, they reportedly submitted the woman’s phone, on which she recorded her private communications with Mr. Mamkootathil, for cyber forensic examination.

The cyber investigation, they said, would examine the recordings for evidence of tampering, including cherry-picked editing, to verify their integrity and admissibility as evidence in the trial court. 

Officials said the police would move the court to subpoena service providers to furnish Mr. Mamkootathil’s call data records, including location data, as part of their investigation. 

Investigators were non-committal about whether the investigation team had cast a dragnet for Mr. Mamkootathil, who had gone off the digital communication grid and remained incommunicado after the alleged victim petitioned Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday.

Mr. Mamkootathil had moved the Principal Sessions Court, Thiruvananthapuram, for anticipatory bail on Friday. The court has posted his plea for a hearing on Wednesday and issued notices to the State-side. An official said that in serious cognisable offences, such as rape, an anticipatory bail plea in the trial could not necessarily prevent the police from arresting the accused, unless the person procured an interim relief from the High Court. 

The police have also moved the Bureau of Immigration, which controls entry and exit at air, sea and land ports, to promulgate a look-out notice against Mr. Mamkootathil to ensure he did not flee the country.

Congress had suspended Mr Mamkootathil from the party after accusations of serial sexual misconduct surfaced against him in August. Subsequently, the government constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the allegations.

However, the investigation came to a dead end in the absence of an identifiable victim with a recordable grievance. The woman’s direct petition to Mr. Vijayan jump-started the dormant case last week. 

Meanwhile, Mr. Mamkootathil claimed in his anticipatory bail plea that the relationship was consensual and the woman had chosen to consume abortion pills on her own volition. He also alleged a CPI(M)-BJP conspiracy to tarnish his image and implicate him in a criminal case.