Kerala SIT conducts joint search at MLA Rahul Mamkootathil's Palakkad flat

Palakkad (Kerala) [India], November 30 (ANI): Kerala Police Special Investigation Team (SIT) conducted a joint search and collected evidence from MLA Rahul Mamkootathil's flat in Palakkad on Sunday as part of an ongoing sexual assault investigation.
An investigation team from Thiruvananthapuram arrived at the Palakkad Crime Branch office earlier today, following which officers from both units initiated a joint inspection.
Mamootathil, who is the MLA from Palakkad, has been booked on charges of alleged rape, criminal intimidation, and coerced abortion, with the FIR listing multiple non-bailable sections. Kerala Police have also arraigned his friend Joby Joseph as the second accused in the case.
According to the FIR, the survivor was allegedly sexually assaulted by Rahul on March 4 this year at her flat in Thrikkannapuram, Thiruvananthapuram, and he later recorded explicit videos of the survivor on his mobile phone without her consent after threatening her. The second accused, a close friend of Rahul, gave her abortion pills while driving her in a car.
A non-bailable case under eight sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been filed against the Congress MLA, including charges of rape, repeatedly committing rape on the same woman, rape by a person in a position of trust, and causing miscarriage without consent.
The MLA himself remains untraceable, and a lookout notice has been issued against him. The police have intensified efforts to arrest Mamkootathil and are conducting a statewide search, with a team also investigating in Tamil Nadu.
The case gained momentum after the woman formally submitted a complaint to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on November 27, 2025.
Mamkootathil has filed an anticipatory bail plea in the Thiruvananthapuram Sessions Court, with the hearing posted for Wednesday, December 3, 2025.
The Congress party had earlier suspended Mamkootathil from its primary membership, but opposition parties like the BJP and CPI(M) are demanding his immediate resignation as an MLA. (ANI)