R S Mugilan arrested on rape charge

CHENNAI: Anti-Sterlite activist R S Mugilan, who suddenly surfaced in Tirupati on Saturday after disappearing in mid-February from the Egmore railway station where he was to board a train to Madurai, was arrested on rape charges by CB-CID police on Sunday.
He will be produced in a court at Kuzhithalai in Karur in connection with a case filed by one of his former associates who accused him of forcing her to have sex on the promise of marriage. The rape allegations had surfaced in April when the woman filed a complaint with the Kulithalai police recalling an incident two years earlier, in February 2017. Following her complaint, Kulithalai police booked Mugilan under three different sections including, section 417 of IPC for cheating on the pretext of marriage and section 376 for rape.
Soon after Mugilan disappeared his friends and family had alleged that the police were behind it as he had made a video doumenting police excesses in Tuticorin against anti-Sterlite protesters. In fact, the day he disappeared, February 15, he had exhibited the video in Chennai. The police had formed special teams to trace him.
Muglian’s wife, Poonkodi, who met him in CBCID custody on Sunday told reporters that the rape case was foisted on him and that he had indeed been abducted. “The missing incident is drama. He was abducted and kept in secret location before he was nabbed. My husband also said that he was kidnapped. But he didn’t know who did that,” she said.
She alleged that before releasing him at Tirupati railway station, his abductors tortured him so badly to find out from where he got the videos of Sterlite (which he released on February 15).
His friends and activists took turns to meet Mugilan at the CB-CID office in Chennai. Mani, his friend, said Mugilan broke down when theye met. “Mugilan who is diabetic patient had refused to take tablets or food provided by the police. He refused to speak to CB-CID officials and told them that he would open up only to the judge,” Mani said.
“Mugilan had injury marks near his eyebrows and legs," said Kanioviya, another activist who met Mugilan in the CBCID office. “In the 23 years of being an activist Mugilan was kidnapped many times and was beaten badly, but nothing affected him mentally. But this time, he appears traumautised," she said.
Saidhaiya, RPF inspector at Tirupati railway station, told TOI that they found Mugilan sitting at the railway station around 10.40am. He was shouting anti-Sterlite slogans in Tamil. “Later, we took him to Katpadi in a train and handed him over to our counterparts there.”
On Sunday morning, a car in which Mugilan’s wife and others were travelling from Erode to Chennai, was involved in a minor accident due to a tyre burst when it reached Thachur village in Villupuram district. All the five occupants in the car escaped unhurt. They continued their journey to Chennai in another car.
Meanwhile Fisheries minsiter D Jayakumar told mediapersons that whether it was case of kidnap would be known only after a detailed inquiry.