Overview
- Thiruvananthapuram Principal District and Sessions Court Judge Nazeera S dismissed the anticipatory bail plea after an in-camera hearing and found pre-arrest relief inappropriate.
- The order said granting bail could jeopardize the investigation through likely witness influence and evidence tampering.
- The MLA faces multiple Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita charges for rape and causing miscarriage, with IT Act Section 66(E) invoked over alleged recording and threats to misuse private images.
- The SIT submitted doctors’ statements and forensic results of audio exchanges to the court, while the defence argued the relationship was consensual and politically driven.
- Police report he remains on the run as searches extend to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka with airport lookout notices in place, and a driver who took him to Bengaluru has been detained, while the Congress expelled him and forwarded a fresh complaint now under preliminary inquiry.