Kasaragod: In a major development in the probe into the sexual assault on a 10-year-old girl, the Kanhangad police here on Monday identified the accused. The cops claimed that a man from Coorg who was the neighbour of the girl abducted and sexually abused her. The probe team reportedly headed to Coorg for taking him into custody.
The police obtained crucial information about the accused five days after the crime. The accused has been residing in the neighbouring house of the girl for many years. But he left his house suddenly on May 15. Police sniffed something suspicious over his sudden exit from the area. Further investigation reportedly confirmed his role in the crime. Police also obtained CCTV visuals revealing the face of the accused. It is hinted that he is booked in another POCSO case too.
The Case
The 10-year-old girl sleeping in her house was allegedly kidnapped and sexually assaulted on May 15. She was found abandoned in a nearby paddy field in this northernmost district of Kerala in the early hours of Wednesday. The girl was allegedly abducted from a hamlet which falls under Hosdurg police station limit here.
According to the child's family members, she was allegedly kidnapped from the room of her grandfather after he went out of the house to milk his cows around 3.00 am. She was found missing from the bed when he came back after some time. They said the grandfather used to go out after closing the door but never locked it. The other family members including the victim's father, mother and sister were sleeping in another room in the same house, they said.
Abandoned in a paddy field, the hapless girl knocked on the door of a house nearby and called her father from a phone of the residents there. Quoting the girl, her family said that an unidentified man had taken her outside the house, threatening to kill her if she raised alarm.
"Her earrings were missing... She said the perpetrator spoke Malayalam," a family member told the media. Based on their complaint, police registered a case and launched a search to trace the accused.
(With PTI inputs)
