Kerala Minor Rape Case: The Kerala Police arrested a total of 57 men accused of raping a minor Dalit athlete over 5 years in Pathanamthitta district. However, two more people are yet to be arrested. An FIR was registered in the case on January 10 after the heinous crime came to light.
Since January 10, the Special Investigation Team has arrested 57 out of the 59 accused, except for two who are abroad, according to the police.
Five minors were among those arrested.
It is alleged that when the Dalit athlete was 13 years old, Subin, one of the accused, had sent obscene messages and pictures to her through his mobile phone. He is also accused of procuring obscene pictures and videos of the teen, according to the Pathanamthitta police.
Furthermore, allegedly when the girl was 16 years old, the accused took her on a bike to Achankottumali near her house and raped her in a rubber plantation in an uninhabited area. The event was recorded on his phone.
Later, during the investigation, it was revealed that Subin showed it to the other accused who were his friends. The statement by Pathanamthitta police reveals that they took her to Achankottumali in a group and gang-raped her.
The Kerala Police made the latest arrest in the case on Sunday. The accused, VS Arun (25), was taken into custody near his house in the district.
The Ilavumthitta police registered 17 cases from 10 to 14 this month, with a total of 25 accused. The fifth accused in the first case, S Sudhi, is in jail in a POCSO case registered by the Pathanamthitta police last year.
A total of 30 cases were registered in four stations in the district based on the student's statement (Pathanamthitta 11, Ilavumthitta 17, Pandalam 1, Malayalapuzha 1). Of these, two accused in the case registered at Pandalam station were arrested on the same day.
The Malayalapuzha police team stayed in Chennai for two days and took the accused into custody in a secret operation conducted with the help of the cyber cell, said the police.
The accused were being arrested in the cases at Ilavumthitta and Pathanamthitta police stations right from the beginning.
Catch all the Business News , Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.