ALAPPUZHA: An 18-year-old boy, who spirited away his underage Facebook friend from Mangalore, was arrested by the Mangalore Rural Police from here on Wednesday. He was remanded in judicial custody after being produced before the Mangalore court.
Rural Police Inspector Rajesh said Jerry Francis, from Alappuzha was arrested under Section 359 of the IPC.
The boy who had failed to clear his class 10 exams, was working as a welder in Alappuzha. He became friends with the girl through Facebook a year ago and fell in love with her.
“We started investigating the case on the basis of a complaint registered by the girl’s parents on Sunday. A police team tracked the mobile phone signals of the boy and the girl and traced them to Alappuzha. Our team went there and brought the girl back to Mangalore the other day. The girl was subjected to medical examination”, said the inspector.
According to the police, the girl, the daughter of a labourer from Capitanio locality in Mangalore, had been missing since Saturday. She had told her parents that she was going with her lover and also threatened to commit suicide if they seek police help.
