Juvenile, 4 others held

MYSURU GANGRAPE

Five persons including a juvenile from Tamil Nadu were arrested by the Karnataka Police for allegedly gangraping a 23-year-old MBA student near Mysuru on August 24. Two of the accused are reportedly absconding and search is on to nab them.

DGP Praveen Sood said on Saturday all the accused were from Tiruppur and used to frequently visited Mysuru for work. Among the 5 were labourers, a driver, carpenter, painter and others doing odd jobs. While 4 were arrested from Tiruppur, 1 was picked up from Erode district in west Tamil Nadu.

THE ARRESTED ARE

N Murugesan (22), S Joseph (28), S Prakash aka Aravind (21) and the juvenile boy within the limits of the Cheyur police station near Avinashi in Tiruppur. Police teams from Karnataka nabbed the other accused, Boopathi (28), from Talavadi in Erode. Two more accused from Tiruppur, allegedly involved in the gangrape, have absconded.

COPS SEIZED

A mini-truck allegedly used by the accused and handed it over to the Karnataka Police. Murugesan was allegedly involved in a murder in Erode around 2 years ago.

HOW COPS PIECED TOGETHER CASE

Sood said the police worked on the case using technical and scientific evidence from the incident spot. “We are yet to collect a statement from the victim, as she is yet to come out of the trauma. Also, we got some details from her male friend, but that was incomplete and did not help much in the investigation,” he said.

A senior police officer said the victim, reportedly from Mumbai, left Mysuru Friday. “Defying doctors’ suggestions, her parents chose to take her to their home state, and left on Friday afternoon. She was not in good condition to travel, but they chose to take her,” the officer said.

Sood said the juvenile detained is 17, subject to verification. But in cases of serious nature, those above the age of 16 too will be tried in regular court, said Sood, quoting the change in definition of juvenile accused after the Delhi 2012 gangrape case.

The DGP added that there was an attempt by the accused to extort Rs3 lakh from the victims.

“We will be filing the chargesheet at the earliest. We are also hoping to get the victim’s statement at the earliest. The staff of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has been doing their best to collect additional details”, he said.