Doesn't have a phone, wears same dress for days; suspect in abusing 10-year-old girl held

KASARGOD: The accused in the case of abducting and sexually abusing a 10-year-old girl in Kasargod, has been taken into custody. Reports said the 35-year-old hailing from Kodagu was arrested from Andhra Pradesh.

The accused calling home turned vital in the investigation. The accused does not have a phone of his own. He called home from someone else's phone. The accused was using his mother's phone while staying in Kodagu.

The investigating team was confused as the accused, who was on the run, didn’t have a phone of his own. The team was not able to conduct an investigation focusing on the tower location. The accused calling his wife from somebody else’ phone helped the team. When an investigation was conducted focusing on this number, came to know that he is in Andhra Pradesh.

The police then reached Andhra and took him into custody. He will be brought to Kanhangad by night. He will be arrested after detailed interrogation tomorrow. The investigating officials said the accused is of a strange behaviour. He was seen wearing the same clothes for days. Reports said that he is an accused in several cases including POCSO and extortion.

He abducted the girl from her house located in the coastal area of Padannakkad at around 3 am on May 15. He sexually abused her half a kilometer away from her house and then fled after stealing her earrings.

The locals found her abandoned with eye and neck injuries. In the beginning everyone believed thought that the motive of the accused was theft. When the child was subjected to medical examination at the Kanhangad district hospital, the report said that she was sexually abused. The girl in her statement told police that he was a skinny person who speaks Malayalam. The girl also told police that he was wearing a lungi, shirt and a mask.

The incident happened when the girl’s grandfather went out of the house to milk the cow after keeping the back door open. The girl was abducted through this way. The police had earlier clarified that the accused exactly knows the place where the girl is lying and the time when the grandfather goes to milk the cow.

The CCTV footage of the abduction had surfaced earlier. Although the accused's face was not clear, the local resident identified him by his clothes and the way he walked.
A local youth was initially taken into custody in the case. He was accused in many cases including rape and was arrested from his relative's house. After the CCTV visuals surfaced, it was realized that he was not the one who sexually abused the girl.