Ernakulam: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday named the parents of the young girls in the Walayar rape case as accused in three more cases. The court has accepted the chargesheet submitted by the CBI. Last month, the CBI submitted a chargesheet accusing the parents of abetment to rape. 

CBI special public prosecutor Pious Mathew informed the court that the agency had obtained strong evidence indicating the mother and stepfather's involvement in the deaths of the children. The court will consider the request to issue a summons to the accused on March 25.

The duo has been added in a case where the accused are Kutti Madhu and Pradeep. The court granted permission for further investigation into the case. A report recommending that the mother and stepfather be accused in a case pending before the Palakkad Juvenile Justice Board has also been filed. The court accepted the supplementary final report submitted by the CBI. 

The two minor girls, hailing from Walayar in Palakkad, were found hanging inside their house after alleged sexual assault in 2017. The eldest of the siblings aged 13 was found hanging inside their hut on January 13, 2017, and her nine-year old sister had died on March 4 that year in the same manner.

Though the mother had alleged that it was a case of murder, Walayar police came to the conclusion that the girls were sexually abused in an unnatural way by five persons, including a juvenile, for nearly one year till they died by suicide.

Last year, the Kerala High Court ordered the transfer of the Walayar case from the Palakkad POCSO Court to the CBI-designated court in Ernakulam. The order was passed in response to a petition filed by the CBI seeking to move the trial from the Special Court for POCSO cases in Palakkad to the Ernakulam CBI Court.