RS Mugilan brought from Tirupati, arrested in rape case
Mugilan was finally spotted on platform one of Tirupati railway station Saturday morning.
Chennai: Tamil Nadu Crime Branch CID police on Sunday arrested ‘environment activist’ R S Mugilan in connection with a rape case registered against him months ago in Karur district. A 37-year-old woman had complained at the Kulithalai all-women police station alleging that he had forced her to have sex with him multiple times after promising marriage.
In her complaint made about two months after Mugilan vanished, the ‘victim’ woman alleged that he had sexually exploited her when both stayed at a lodge during a protest at Neduvasal in Pudukottai district against the hydrocarbon project in February 2017.
He had promised to marry her and exploited her multiple times, alleged the fellow-activist while seeking police action against Mugilan, who functioned as coordinator of 'Tamil Nadu Environment Protection Movement'.
Mugilan had gone missing soon after holding a press conference on February 15 at Chennai, where he named a couple of senior police officers and alleged they were complicit with miscreants who torched government vehicles and damaged CCTV cameras at the anti-Sterlite rally in Thoothukudi, where 13 people died in police firing. He had boarded a train at Egmore for Madurai on the night of February 15 and vanished thereafter.
Mugilan's disappearance triggered worldwide campaign on social media demanding a probe and there were demonstrations in USA and Australia too.
Politicians and NGOs also raised protests and Amnesty International sought investigation into Mugilan's disappearance. Prominent human rights defender Henri Tiphagne moved the Madras High Court with a habeas corpus petition seeking police action to produce Mugilan.
Mugilan was finally spotted on platform one of Tirupati railway station Saturday morning. Railway police apprehended a bearded man with unkempt appearance jumping on to the tracks and raising slogans against the Centre and TN Government. When the cops managed to get him on to the platform and took him to the RPF station in the station, he identified himself as Mugilan.
Following a request from TN CB-CID police, he was taken to Katpadi station and handed over to the TN police. After medical examination, he was taken to the CB-CID headquarters in Chennai, He was arrested in connection with the sexual exploitation case after over ten hours of quizzing, sources said.