Rahul Mamkootathil sexual assault case: Rightwing activist Rahul Easwar held over victim identity leak

Kerala police have reportedly held rightwing activist Rahul Easwar for allegedly revealing the identity of the victim in Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil sexual assault case. Thiruvananthapuram police reportedly took Easwar into custody from his residence earlier in the day and a probe is underway. 

According to police, the victim filed a complaint with Thiruvananthapuram cyber police for allegedly making statements revealing her identity through social media and in news channels' debates. Easwar allegedly made statements insulting the victim, police said.

The rightwing activist has been speaking in favour of Mamkootathil and vehemently advocated in television debates that the Congress leader from Kerala was innocent. During debates, Easwar also revealed that the victim was married and she got involved in a relationship with the legislator while she was married to another person.

Easwar's wife, Deepa Easwar, said police are questioning him and they are yet to get full details regarding charges against Easwar. Deepa claimed Easwar has not made any statements that revealed the identity of the victim. 

Mamkootathil, the Congress legislator from Palakkad, has gone underground ever since the victim registered a sexual assault complaint formally against him. Mamkootathil is facing charges for sexually assaulting a young woman and forcing her for an abortion. Earlier, while Mamkootathil had maintained he hadn't done anything "against law", he hadn't denied the charges levelled against him. 

Earlier, several audio recordings and screenshots of the conversations between Mamkootathil and the victim surfaced online, allegedly suggesting the Congress leader forced the victim to undergo an abortion against her will. The crime branch under the Kerala police has formed a Special Investigation Team (SIT) to probe the case.