THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Tholicode Jama-ath former chief imam Shafeek Al Qasim, accused of sexually abusing a minor, has confessed to the crime. He told police that he sexually abused the minor after taking advantage of his close relationship he maintained with the girl’s family. When he took the girl to a deserted location near the forest at Peppara in his car, a group of Kudumbashree workers, engaged in work, spotted them and a verbal dispute broke out.

Qasimi said that he had warned the girl not to reveal about the incident. The accused will be produced before the Nedumangad Court. The imam was absconding after the incident. The police had also taken his driver, Fazil, into custody and confiscated the car in which he was travelling.

The imam used to rent a room using Fazil’s identity card. He used to make calls from Fazil’s phone. In a probe it has been found that money was deposited in his brother Noushad’s friends’ accounts.

The police had registered a case against him for sexually abusing the minor on February 12. Though he was under pressure to surrender, he fled the place and was nabbed from Madurai yesterday.