The Kerala Crime Branch has registered a case against Congress MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil for allegedly sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman. The case was filed after the survivor emailed a complaint to KPCC president Sunny Joseph, who forwarded it to the state police chief seeking action.

Sajeev K, DySP (Crime Branch, Thiruvananthapuram unit), will lead the investigation.

According to the Crime Branch FIR, in 2023, the Palakkad MLA obtained the Telegram number of the survivor, who resides outside Kerala, contacted her, and allegedly made false promises that he would marry her. Later, while she was on vacation and had travelled home, the accused insisted on meeting her privately, claiming it was to discuss their future plans.

He then took her to an isolated homestay-like building in a car driven by his friend, Fenni Ninan. At the location, despite the woman’s resistance and without her consent, Rahul allegedly brutally assaulted and raped her, causing injuries to multiple parts of her body. Rahul has been charged under Section 376 (rape) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).

This development comes at a time when Rahul is already facing another sexual assault case registered based on a separate complaint submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan. He has been absconding, and a lookout notice has been issued to prevent him from leaving the country. A special investigation team is probing the earlier case.

In that case, police booked the MLA under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including 64(2)(f) (rape by a person in a position of trust or authority), 64(2)(h) (rape knowing the woman is pregnant), 64(2)(m) (repeated rape on the same woman), 89 (causing miscarriage without consent), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 351(3) (criminal intimidation), and 3(5) (joint criminal liability). Section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act was also invoked for the alleged recording and threat of misuse of private images.

On Wednesday, Rahul told the Thiruvananthapuram District and Sessions Court that the allegations in the first complaint were fabricated and politically motivated. The court heard his anticipatory bail plea in camera and posted the matter for further consideration on Thursday, without granting interim relief.

Rahul was suspended from the Congress on August 25 and had resigned as state Youth Congress president after Malayalam actress Rini Ann George accused “a young leader” of misconduct. Several other women and a transgender person later levelled similar accusations.

He was elected MLA from Palakkad in November last year, in the byelection held after Shafi Parambil won the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat.