Kochi, 11 December(HS): Rahul Mamkoottathil, who was described as a sexually perverted MLA by chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, made an appearance in Palakkad on Thursday afternoon and cast his vote in the local body election.

Mamkoottathil was in hiding for the last 15 days to evade arrest following complaints filed by two ladies that he had raped and impregnated them. The Congress leader has managed to get anticipatory bail in both the cases from the Thiruvananthapuram Principal Sessions Court and Kerala High Court.

Though Rahul Mamkoottathil was ousted from the primary membership of the party by the president of Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC), Sunny Joseph, hundreds of Congress activosts had thronged his office and the polling booth to welcome the tainted MLA.

It looked strange that though Mamkoottathil was in contact with the party activists for the last 15 days, the police failed to nab him.

“I will speak whatever I want to tell in the court and I do not have anything else to tell you,” said the MLA when media persons surrounded him at his office and the polling booth.

Interestingly, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan reiterated his charge that Mamkoottathil was a sexually perverted Congress leader while interacting with the media at Kannur.

The decision of the KPCC to oust Mamkoottathil from the party, too, came under scrutiny following Sunny Joseph’s remarks at Kannur that the complaint against the sexually perverted MLA has been well drafted by an expert.

This gave rise to another wordy duel between Joseph and Leader of Opposition V D Satheesh, who questioned the propriety of such a statement at this juncture. “Complaints should be well drafted, and nothing is surprising in it,” said Satheeshan.

Vijayan and his CPIM find themselves in the dock over a sexual molestation complaint filed by an actress against P T Kunhumohammed, ex-MLA, who is a fellow traveler of the party. Ramesh Chennithala, Congress Working Committee member who is also the chief minister in waiting told reporters that Vijayan should rein in his MLAs and party workers against whom there are many complaints of sexual assault. “In the case of Kunhumohammed, the complaint was received at the CMO at least a fortnight ago, but the same was kept under the carpet by none other than the chief minister,” said Chennithala.

Hindusthan Samachar / Manohar Yadavatti