Kochi: The Kerala Police on Wednesday nabbed the first accused in connection with the alleged gang rape of a woman at a lodge here.
Ajmal, 27, a native of Thoppumpadi is the first accused in the case. The police had earlier arrested Alappuzha native Salim Kumar(33), the third accused in the case.
The cops have intensified the search for other accused Shameer, and lodge owner Cristeena. The lodge was also sealed by the police.
According to the police, a fashion model hailing from Malappuram, has alleged that she was given drinks laced with drugs, and gang-raped by three men at the lodge where she was put up earlier this month. She had arrived there for a photo-shoot.
The sexual assault continued from December 1 to December 3, she has alleged in her complaint.
They recorded the video of the assault and used it to allegedly blackmail and intimidate me and continue the rape, the woman further alleged in the complaint.
It was on November 28 that the woman reached Kochi. The culprits had invited her there on the pretext of a photoshoot.
Kumar, whom the woman knew, had made the arrangements for her stay at Cristeena Residency in a secluded area near the Infopark at Kakkanad.
Though they invited her to their room later that night, she refused. It was then that their true ploy was revealed.
They sent pictures of girls who had "co-operated" with them to my phone in an attempt to lure me, the woman told Manorama Online.
Later with the connivance of Cristeena, the lodge owner, the three accused gave me drinks laced with drugs and gang-raped me, her complaint read.
"They burst into my room and sexually assaulted me. They locked me up thereafter," the woman said in her statement.
"These people [culprits] are luring girls from Kerala and other states and keeping them in Kochi lodges for nefarious purposes," the woman added.
Even as the case gathers momentum, the woman has lambasted the police for their demeaning behaviour and aired concerns that the police was in fact working in collusion with the culprits, letting them escape.
However, police has denied these allegations and said that the case was being investigated and there were no lapses.