The Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Thiruvalla has ordered the Prisons and Correctional department to produce Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil in the court on Tuesday.
The court issued a production warrant for Mr. Mamkootathil to the Superintendent of the Sub Jail at Mavelikkara in Alappuzha district after the special investigation team (SIT) probing multiple rape charges against the MLA filed a petition on Monday seeking his police custody for further investigation.
Mr. Mamkootathil is at present a remand prisoner at the Sub Jail following his arrest on rape charges from a hotel in Palakkad early on Sunday. The latest case against Mr. Mamkootathil centres on a non-resident Keralite woman’s online complaint, accusing the MLA of inviting her to a hotel room in Thiruvalla in April 2024 for discussing their prospective marriage and raping her.
Mr. Mamkootathil’s counsel, during the remand hearing, had dismissed the accusation as false and defamatory. The defence argued that the relationship was consensual and Mr. Mamkootathil, then Youth Congress State president, had arrived at the hotel room at the survivor’s behest.
The State-side, in its custody application, portrayed Mr. Mamkootathil as a serial sexual offender. The prosecution submitted details of the other two cases registered against the MLA in 2025. The State alleged that the politician was non-cooperative and had exhibited a marked reluctance to provide passwords for the digital devices, including mobile phones, he used for private communication with the survivor.
The prosecution argued that Mr. Mamkootathil’s custodial interrogation was necessary for a search-and-recovery operation related to the latest case and crime-scene reconstruction, in the presence of the accused. Moreover, the SIT was required to examine the MLA’s financial transactions, given the “monetary extortion” angle in the rape case.
Earlier, the prosecution had opposed enlarging Mr. Mamkootathil on bail, alleging that the suspect could use its political heft to influence witnesses, intimidate the survivor and also tamper with evidence. The State-side also argued that Mr. Mamkootathil had a history of threatening his alleged victims with physical harm, including death, if they dared to seek legal recourse.
Officials said the SIT had moved to record the survivor’s voluntary statement before a magistrate under Section 183 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhit (BNSS). They noted that the complainant had been a pharmacist in Canada since 2017.
Officials said Section 183 of the BNSS strikes a victim-friendly approach in legal proceedings, including the use of video calls by the magistrate to record the sworn and voluntary deposition of the survivor in rape cases. Nevertheless, the SIT said the survivor had consented to appear in person before a magistrate in the country to record her deposition.
