Palakkad MLA Rahul Mamkootathil was taken into custody by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) of the Kerala Police late Saturday night in connection with a sexual assault case.
His arrest was officially registered on Sunday morning after the probe team transferred him to a police camp in Pathanamthitta. He is expected to be produced before a local court in Thiruvalla later today.
Reports indicate that the arrest follows a third complaint filed against the MLA, who is already facing two similar charges.
Earlier, the Kerala High Court had granted Mamkootathil interim protection from arrest in the first case, which involves allegations of rape and coercion to force a woman into undergoing an abortion. In the second case, a sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram had granted him anticipatory bail.
In the third complaint, the woman accused the MLA of raping her after falsely promising to marry her and financially exploiting her. The MLA also allegedly forced the woman to undergo an abortion and humiliated her when she informed him of her pregnancy, according to local media reports.
The survivor emailed her complaint to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan a few days ago, who subsequently forwarded it to the Director General of Police (DGP).
The Congress expelled Mamkootathil from the party’s primary membership on December 4, 2025 ahead of the local body elections. Prior to this, he had been suspended from the party on August 25, 2025.
A strong critic of Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and his Left government, Mamkoottathil won the Palakkad Assembly by-election in November last year by a record margin of 18,724 votes.
