AIG Poonguzhali to supervise probe in second rape case against Kerala MLA Rahul Mamkootathil

Kerala Police has appointed Deputy Inspector General (AIG), Kerala Coast Police, G. Poonguzhali, to supervise the Crime Branch team investigating the second rape case filed against Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil.

Officials said the move was significant given the possibility of more similar “me too” statements against him in the public sphere.

They noted that Ms. Poonguzhali had significant experience as a liaison for victims who testified before the 2017 Justice Hema Committee, which noted allegations of sexual favoritism for film roles, gender inequality and entrenched misogyny in the Malayalam film industry.

The Crime Branch had filed a first information report (FIR) in the court of Magistrate First Class-III on Wednesday, charging Mr. Mamkooathil with illegal detention and rape.

In the court filing, the agency accused Mr. Mamkooathil of befriending his accuser on social media, proposing marriage, inviting her to a homestay in 2023 to discuss possible alliances, and raping her. He said he was seriously injured in the attack. The FIR stated that Fenni Ninan took her to her family home by car.

(Mr Ninan, a close friend of Mr Mamkootathil and a Congress candidate in the Adoor municipal elections, has since denied the accusation and called it a political conspiracy.)

Police tracked down the woman whose explosive email complaint to KPCC president Sunny Joseph resulted in Mr. Mamkooathil’s expulsion from the party on Thursday, officials said. Mr. Joseph forwarded the complaint to State Police Chief Ravada Chandrasekhar, which resulted in a second rape charge being filed against Mr. Mamkootathil.

Officials said the woman has expressed her wish to file a criminal complaint and can give her affidavit directly to a judicial magistrate in person or through audio or video depositions under Article 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS); This is an option permitted by law even if the person is physically or mentally unfit to appear in court.

Investigators said they would corroborate the woman’s testimony by establishing a chain of circumstantial evidence, including the location of the victim’s and the defendant’s cellphone at the time of the crime, given that the passage of time could obscure direct evidence, including DNA and injury marks.

Investigators said they will subpoena cell phone providers and seize devices related to the case for cyber forensic examination.

Authorities stated that location service-enabled mobile phone applications can also reveal the whereabouts of the defendant and the woman at the time of the crime.

Apart from the woman giving her statement, the police would record the woman’s accounts of the alleged crime to her friends and identification witnesses and search her treatment records to build a watertight case despite the two-year time gap between the alleged crime and the registration of the FIR.

K. Sajeevan, DySP, Crime Branch, is the investigating officer.