KAZHAKOOTAM: A youth has been arrested for raping a 17-year-old girl in Thiruvananthapuram. The accused Gokul (23), a native of Perinthalmanna in Malappuram met the girl through Sharechat. The Kazhakoottam police said that it was the first time in the state that a crime is committed through ShareChat. According to the police, the accused raped her multiple times and took gold jewellery from the girl.

The accused befriends girls who do not have parents and sexually exploits them and then flees with the gold ornaments acquired from them. The police said that the accused met the girl a month ago through Sharechat. He pretended to be in love with the girl. He then rented a car and took the girl to various parts of the city and raped her. The police also found the CCTV footage of this. He also took 3.5 sovereigns of gold from the girl.

After the incident, he was working at a juice shop in Karunagappally. The accused was arrested by the Kazhakoottam police. Earlier the accused was also arrested for raping a 16-year-old in Palakkad. After being remanded and released on bail, he fled before being arrested again in this case.