Kochi: The Njarakkal police on Monday arrested three persons on charges of abduction and alleged sexual abuse of three young girls, including two minor sisters, at Kuzhuppilly. The arrested were identified as Najmal, 26, of Maya Bazar, Vishnu, 25, and Shijil, 29, of Kuzhuppilly.
The issue started on Sunday afternoon when the father of the minor girls found them missing from the home at Edavanakkad and alerted Njarakkal police following which a case for missing persons was registered.
In the evening, around 5 p.m., the elder of the minors returned home and told the police that her younger sister and another girl in the neighbourhood had gone missing in the sea at Kuzhupilly. She said that the three had attempted suicide in the sea and that she had to back out.
The drama came to light when the police received a clue that the girls were seen by someone in the locality leaving on two motorcycles on Saturday midnight.
The police said that the minor girl had known the accused Vishnu, who sent his friends Najmal and Shijil on two motorcycles to pick up the girls at midnight. “The accused gave beer and drugs to the girls when they reached the beach following which they were allegedly sexually abused. Seeing all this, the elder girl got panicked and fled the scene,” said a police official.
The other two girls, in an intoxicated state, walked around and slept on the terrace of a house there. They were spotted along the beach area only on Sunday afternoon. On Sunday evening, all the three accused were taken into custody. Cases were registered against them under relevant sections of PoCSO Act, Juvenile Justice Act, Abkari Act and IPC. Najmal and Vishnu are the fifth and sixth accused in a murder case and were out on conditional bail. They were produced before the court and remanded.
