On Thursday, October 13, the Kerala crime branch filed fresh rape charges against Congress MLA Eldhose Kunnappilly, who was previously being probed for kidnapping and assaulting his estranged girlfriend.
The case against Kunnappilly was registered by Kovalam police in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. The MLA has been hiding since being booked in a physical assault case on Tuesday. The district crime branch, that took over the probe and launched a manhunt to locate the Congress MLA informed that both the mobile phones of the MLA have been switched off since he has been on the run.
As per reports, Kunnappilly, MLA from Ernakulam’s Perumbavoor constituency, was charged with rape on false marriage promises, insulting womanhood, kidnapping, trespassing, and assault based on the complaint of the same woman, who had earlier alleged that the MLA had abducted and manhandled her.
The rape charges were added when the victim told the investigating police that the Congress MLA had raped her multiple times in different locations after promising to marry her.
In her statement, recorded before the Magistrate under CRPC 164, the victim further alleged that the MLA abducted her from her home on September 14.
She also said that on one occasion, the Congress MLA assaulted her inside his car while drunk and threatened to kill her.
She added that the MLA later offered Rs 30 lakh to settle the matter, alleged the victim, also levelling serious allegations against the Kovalam police. She said that the police asked her to withdraw and settle the complaint against the MLA. The victim accused the SHO of asking her to write down that she had no complaints.
The victim said that she had all of the evidence against the wrongdoings of the MLA and the police trying to hush the case.
The Kovalam police rejected the allegations and said the teacher didn’t come to the police station for a statement. They claimed that the victim had filed a complaint with the city police commissioner on September 28, and there was only an accusation of physical assault.
Later, however, based on her allegations, the CI was transferred, and the case was given to the Crime Branch.
Meanwhile, in a social media post, the MLA stated that he has done nothing illegal and that he will defend the lawsuit lawfully. On Tuesday (October 11) he applied to the sessions court for anticipatory bail, and his petition has been scheduled for hearing on Saturday, October 15.
Questioned about the case, Congress has said that it would not protect the two-term MLA. Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly V D Satheesan said that KPCC has a clear stand on the issue and the party has never tried to protect him as usually done by the ruling CPI(M) when allegations would crop up against its leaders.
Notably, Eldhose Kunnappilly is the same Congress MLA who had apologised to the Muslim community for donating to the construction of Ram Mandir.
He also claimed he was ‘tricked’ into donating to the Ram Mandir by the RSS. Kunnappilly alleged that some people had come to collect donations for the construction of the temple but ‘did not reveal’ that they were associated with the RSS and that the donation was for the Ram Mandir in Ayodhya. He claimed that ‘out of his innocence’, he donated Rs 1,000 for the temple construction.
