IDUKKI: Police have arrested two more persons in connection with the incident where a 15-year-old was sexually abused by a gang in a tea plantation in Poopara. The arrested are Mahesh Kumar Yadav and Khem Singh. Both are friends of the girl. During the counseling, the girl had said that the accused had sexually abused her in Rajakumari and Poopara. Santhanpara police had earlier taken into custody two Poopara natives who had fled to Tamil Nadu.

On May 30, police had arrested Poopara natives Samuel, Aravind Kumar and two minors in connection with the incident. A friend who was with the girl and another friend are in police custody. Both are natives of West Bengal.

The incident happened around 4.30 pm on May 29 at the tea plantation near the Poopara beverages outlet. The girl, the daughter of a migrant couple, and her friend reached here in an auto. A friend had bought liquor from the Bevco outlet.

The accused came here while the two were talking. They gang-raped the girl after beating and chasing her friend away. When the locals came running after hearing the girl's screams, the accused escaped from there. The police who reached the spot rushed the girl to Idukki Medical College Hospital.