16-year-old girl raped in Kannur, accused include dad and DYFI leader

KANNUR

: Eight more people were arrested in connection with the alleged gangrape of a 16-year-old girl at a lodge in

Parassinikkadavu

in the district, police said on Thursday.


Those arrested on Thursday included the student’s father and a DYFI leader, police said. So far 13 people have been arrested.

Investigators from four different police stations, including the Women’s Cell, Kannur, arrested the accused.

Police said the Women’s Cell arrested a man Adarsh (19) for sexually abusing another minor girl, a schoolmate and friend of the survivor. One person, K V Sandeep, arrested on Wednesday in Thaliparamba, was arrested by Pazhayangadi police in another case involving the same survivor on Thursday.

Thaliparamba police said, two others, Sajin and Shyam Mohan, were arrested under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act for abusing the girl in some other locality other than the lodge, where she was gang-raped by four men. In Valappattanam, three people, Ashith Valsaraj, DYFI leader Nikhil Mohan and Mridul M have been arrested. Incidentally, Mohan had led a protest rally, demanding the arrest of the Parassinikkadavu lodge owner. Besides Sandeep, Pazhayangadi police arrested Vaisakhan of Thaliparamba, Vadakkanchery, and Jithin of Matool.

After arresting Adarsh, the Women’s Cell said information of the second girl surfaced while recording the first girl’s statement. Though the two cases were not connected, one man, who was yet to be arrested, had reportedly abused both the girls.

District police chief G Siva Vikram said the role of a racket could not be ruled out. Since the girl’s father had been abusing her for the past two years, she apparently had no inclination of the gravity of the exploitation and it might have made her an easy target, the officer said.

In

Palakkad

, a separate case has been filed for blackmailing and assaulting the girl’s brother. A gang had shown the man the photos of his sister, and demanded Rs 50,000 for deleting them. He was assaulted for questioning them.

Meanwhile, the state government denied the opposition’s allegation of ineffective probe.

Replying to a submission by opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala, industries minister E P Jayarajan told the state assembly that several persons were already in police custody and seven others were under surveillance.

(With inputs from Thiruvananthapuram )


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