Time to use 'Brahmastra' against Mamkootathil: Congress leader K Muraleedharan

Demanding stringent action against suspended party MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, who is facing fresh sexual assault allegations from another woman, senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan on Wednesday said it is time to use the Brahmastra Muraleedharan said that he expects quick and strong action from Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee KPCC chief Sunny Joseph after discussions with all party leaders.Speaking to reporters here, the Congress leader said that the decision to resign as MLA has to be taken by Mamkootathil himself.Once the umbilical cord is cut, the party has no role in that.

Demanding stringent action against suspended party MLA Rahul Mamkootathil, who is facing fresh sexual assault allegations from another woman, senior Congress leader K Muraleedharan on Wednesday said ''it is time to use the Brahmastra'' Muraleedharan said that he expects quick and strong action from Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief Sunny Joseph after discussions with all party leaders.

Speaking to reporters here, the Congress leader said that the decision to resign as MLA has to be taken by Mamkootathil himself.

''Once the umbilical cord is cut, the party has no role in that. The person concerned has to decide,'' he said.

Muraleedharan said that the party suspended Mamkootathil even before there was any written complaint before it or the police.

''Now that there are written complaints before the party and the police, strong action will be taken against him. In native parlance, it is time to use the Brahmastra,'' he said.

Later, Joseph and senior party leader Ramesh Chennithala too spoke along similar lines.

The KPCC chief told reporters in Alappuzha that the party removed Mamkootathil as state president of the Youth Congress, suspended him from the party and removed him from the parliamentary party, right at the start.

''An appropriate decision will be taken at the right time,'' he said in response to reporters' queries on further action against Mamkootathil.

Whether to resign as MLA or not has to be decided by the individual, Joseph added.

Chennithala, while speaking to media in Palakkad, said the party will not protect anyone who has committed a wrong.

He said that the further course of action against Mamkootathil will be decided after the court's order on his anticipatory bail plea.

Earlier in the day, Muraleedharan said that the latest complaint against the Palakkad MLA was given to the KPCC chief, who forwarded it to the DGP as Mamkootathil has been suspended from the party.

''Had he not been suspended from the Congress, then the party would have carried out an investigation into the allegations,'' he said.

The latest complainant against Mamkootathil is a 23-year-old woman, living outside Kerala, who had sent the complaint to the party high command and the KPCC.

Muraleedharan said that Mamkootathil was given the responsibility to help the people and not engage in the activities that he is accused of.

''If he has engaged in the activities he is accused of, he is not fit to work in the political or any other domain,'' he said.

Asked whether there are any sympathisers of Mamkootathil in the party, Muraleedharan said that the Palakkad MLA is on his way out and his supporters can join him.

When reporters pointed out that the CPI(M) has not taken similar action against its leaders facing such allegations, the Congress leader said that the Left party's stand ''does not concern us''.

''Our stand is to protect the image of our party from being tarnished,'' he added.

Meanwhile, a Thiruvananthapuram court granted custody of activist Rahul Easwar, who has been supporting Mamkootathil, to the police for two days.

Subsequently, police took him to the hospital as he has been on a hunger strike inside the jail for the last two days.

At the hospital, he told reporters that the police lied in court that he was given a notice prior to his arrest.

He also said that he was going to continue his hunger strike.

Easwar was remanded to judicial custody on Monday for allegedly defaming the first complainant in the sexual assault case against Mamkoottathil.

The activist, who was arrested on Sunday, has claimed that he has neither revealed the first complainant's identity nor defamed her.

Mamkootathil has been absconding for the past few days after police registered a sexual assault and forced abortion case against him based on a complaint submitted to Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan last week by a different woman.

Based on the complaint to the CM, a 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 of 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 against the Palakkad MLA.

Police have also invoked section 66(E) of the Information Technology Act for the alleged recording and threat of misuse of private images.

Mamkootathil was suspended from the primary membership of the Congress on August 25.

He 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.

Mamkootathil was elected as MLA in November last year in a by-election to the Palakkad seat, following former MLA Shafi Parambil's election to the Lok Sabha from Vatakara.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)