Pathanamthitta: The prosecution on Saturday told a court here that the voice clip produced by expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil to support his claim that his relationship with the victim in the third sexual assault case against him was consensual lacked authenticity, PTI reported.
The submission was made by public prosecutor T Harikrishnan in the Sessions Court hearing Mamkootathil's bail plea.
The prosecutor told the court that it was not clear from the clip whether it was the victim's voice and that it had not been authenticated or certified by a competent authority.
The defence lawyers had submitted the voice recording to assert that the relationship between Mamkootathil and the victim was consensual.
The court, after hearing both sides, listed the matter for orders on January 28.
Mamkootathil moved the sessions court in appeal against a magisterial court denying him bail in the case on January 17.
Denying bail, Judge Arundhathi Dileep noted on 17th that Rahul is a sitting MLA and that the allegations against him are serious in nature. The court also took into account his alleged past antecedents and expressed concern over the possibility of witnesses being intimidated or influenced, evidence being tampered with, and the investigation being adversely affected if bail were granted, TNIE reported.
The third sexual assault case was registered against the Palakkad MLA under sections 376 (rape) and 506(1) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) following a complaint lodged by a native of Kottayam district on January 8.
He was arrested in the case on January 11 in Palakkad.
Earlier, the Kerala High Court and a sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram had protected the MLA from arrest in the first two cases of sexual assault registered against him based on complaints of two different women.