A search was carried out at the apartment of suspended Congress MLA Rahul Mamkoottathil in Palakkad on Sunday in connection with the sexual assault case registered against him, the police said.
Two police teams have been conducting the search to collect evidence at his apartment in Kunathurmedu since morning, officials said.
According to the FIR registered on November 28, the complainant, who was pregnant at the time, was allegedly raped by Mamkoottathil over two days at the apartment in the last week of May.
The police said CCTV footage from the apartment was collected as part of the investigation to verify the complainant's statement that she had visited the place.
They said various documents were also examined during the search. Mamkoottathil's staff members were present at the apartment when the police arrived.
The suspended legislator has reportedly been untraceable since the case against him was registered on Friday.
He has filed an anticipatory bail plea before the Thiruvananthapuram District and Principal Sessions Court, which will be considered on Wednesday.
Apart from Mamkoottathil, his friend Joby Joseph is also named as an accused in the case and is currently untraceable.
Joseph allegedly gave the complainant a pill inside a car on May 30 to abort the pregnancy.
The case has been registered under Sections 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) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.
Police have also invoked Section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act for the alleged recording and threat of misuse of private images.
Earlier, the Crime Branch had registered a case based on initial audio clips and chat messages that surfaced after third-party individuals emailed the police headquarters, as the woman had not come forward at the time.
Two days ago, another purported audio clip was released, in which he was heard initially expressing a desire for a child but later urging the woman to undergo an abortion.
Mamkoottathil was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress on August 25.
He had earlier resigned as Youth Congress state president after Malayalam actress Rini Ann George accused a young leader of misbehaviour, prompting protests by the BJP and the DYFI, the youth wing of the CPI(M).
Subsequently, several women and a transgender person also levelled allegations against him.
Mamkoottathil was elected as MLA in November last year in a bypoll to the Palakkad seat, following the election of former MLA Shafi Parambil to the Lok Sabha from Vatakara.
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