‘Four-year-old girl repeatedly raped, paternal uncle breaks down during interrogation; turning point was marks on body’

KOCHI: Police said the four-and-a-half-year-old girl thrown into the river by her mother, was raped several times. More information was there in the postmortem report received by the police yesterday. Some marks found on her body during postmortem hinted that she had been sexually abused multiple times. Following this, the Puthenkurish police questioned her relatives in detail.

Three of her relatives were summoned to the police station and questioned yesterday. Among them was the child's paternal uncle. He confessed to the crime when he was questioned after sending back two others in the evening. He was questioned by a team led by the SP. Police said the victim’s paternal uncle broke down and started crying during interrogation. He has been charged under juvenile justice and POCSO sections. The Chengamanad police had registered a case against her mother Sandhya in connection with her death.

Kalyani, who was picked up from the Anganawadi, was thrown into the Chalakudy river by her mother at around 7 pm on Monday evening. Her body was found stuck between the branches of a tree on a pillar in the middle of the Moozhikkulam bridge, at around 2.15 am on Tuesday. Her body was brought home at 3.30 pm on Tuesday after postmortem at Kalamassery Medical College. The body was kept at her ancestral house for the people to pay homage and later was cremated at the Thiruvaniyoor public crematorium at around 5 pm on Tuesday.