Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil remanded to 14-day judicial custody

Pathanamthitta: Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil has been placed in judicial custody for 14 days after being arrested in a fresh rape case— the third such case filed against him.

He was taken into custody in Palakkad and later arrested based on the latest complaint, which was submitted to the police via e-mail.

The complainant in the third case has levelled grave accusations, including brutal rape, financial coercion and forced termination of pregnancy.

Earlier, in the first rape case, the Kerala High Court had issued a stay on Mamkootathil’s arrest. In the second case, he had secured anticipatory bail from the trial court.

On December 12, the government shifted the investigation into the first rape case to the State Police Crime Branch. Until then, the case had been under the jurisdiction of the Thiruvananthapuram City Police Commissioner.

With this handover, both sexual assault cases against the expelled MLA are now under the supervision of Assistant Inspector General of Police Poonguzhali, who had already been overseeing the inquiry into the second case.

Previously, on December 6, the High Court had paused any arrest in the second case while reviewing his plea for anticipatory bail. Justice K Babu’s bench scheduled further proceedings for December 15 after directing that detailed submissions be made.

The new case against Mamkootathil lists several non-bailable offences under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 2023. These include Section 64 (rape), Section 64(2) (repeated rape of the same survivor), Section 64(f) (rape by a person holding a position of trust), Section 64(h) (rape of a woman known to be pregnant) and Section 64(m) (repeated rape). Additional charges include Section 89 of the BNS (causing miscarriage without consent), Section 316 (criminal breach of trust) and Section 68(e) of the IT Act for transmitting objectionable digital material.

(With ANI inputs)