THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The police on Wednesday arrested three youths in connection with abduction and rape of a minor girl from Thiruvananthapuram. Four more persons, including the prime accused, are absconding.
Those arrested are Sumesh, 22, of Chiramukku, Vishnu, 24, of Kalliyoor and Abhijith, 19,of Vallamcode. Apart from the prime accused Akhil, the others absconding are Saffarulla of Vizhinjam, Vishnu of Neyyatinkara and Anish of Neruvamoodu. The police also registered a case against Vishnu for trying to assault policemen to evade arrest.
According to police, Akhil developed a love affair with the girl and he prompted her to elope with him. He took the girl to Todupuzha on September 12 and stayed at a rented house where he raped the girl, a tenth-standard student at a government school and hailed from a middle class family. The police tracked the girl by tracing the mobile phone location of the accused.
A medical examination on the girl confirmed that she was sexually abused. Though the girl said in her statement that Akhil had sexual relations with her consent, rape charges would be framed against him as the girl was a minor. Various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences and IPC for abduction and harbouring would be framed against all the accused.
“All the accused managed to go into hideouts by the time we traced the girl to Thodupuzha the other day,” said Fort circle inspector V. Rajikumar. “We hope to trap all the accused soon."
