Kerala Crime Branch questions Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in rape case

The Crime Branch is questioning Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil at the State Police Club in Peroorkada, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, in connection with a rape and coerced pregnancy case registered against him in November 2025.

Mr. Mamkootathil turned up at the club early Monday (February 16, 2026) and presented himself before the investigating officer, G. Poonguzhali.

The Kerala High Court granted anticipatory bail to Mr. Mamkootathil last Thursday in the case registered initially by the Nemom police in Thiruvananthapuram and subsequently transferred to the Crime Branch. 

The Crime Branch had opposed bail on the grounds that Mr. Mamkootathil was markedly reluctant to cooperate with the investigation and had refused to share the passwords for the digital devices he used for private communications with the survivor. The agency also accused Mr. Mamkootathil of concealing several other mobile phones involved in the alleged offence from investigators. 

Consequently, the High Court directed Mr. Mamkootathil to cooperate with the investigation as one of the several preconditions for anticipatory bail. It ordered Mr. Mamkootathil to surrender the “concealed” phones and share their passwords with investigators. Officials said the High Court has granted the agency leave to question Mr. Mamkootathil for three days. The questioning should commence at 10 a.m. and end at 4 p.m. each day. 

The police had fast-tracked the case after the complainant met Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in November last year. The Crime Branch is investigating Mr. Mamkootathil on the charge of obtaining the survivor’s sexual consent through deceitful means by promising marriage and subsequently threatening her to terminate the pregnancy.

Acquaintance under lens

The agency is also investigating Joby Thomas, an acquaintance of the Palakkad MLA, accused of supplying the survivor with medicines causing miscarriage without a doctor’s prescription, and coercing her to consume them while watching on a mobile video phone call to ensure compliance. Mr. Thomas is on anticipatory bail in the case and has denied the accusations. 

Officials said the agency has sought legal opinion to determine whether the offences fall under the provisions of the Drugs and Cosmetics Act or the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, which protects the reproductive rights of women, including those outside the ambit of conventional marriage. 

Mr. Mamkootathil has since denied the accusations. His counsel told the court that the legislator was the victim of “a political conspiracy” allegedly at the behest of the survivor’s husband, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader. Mr. Mamkootathil portrayed the relationship as consensual. 

The Crime Branch had earlier recorded the survivor’s sworn deposition given in-camera to a magistrate as per Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita.