Four held under Pocso for sexually assaulting girl in Tirumangalam

The victim, a 16-year-old girl from Padi, was reportedly intellectually challenged. Her parents had lodged a complaint at the Nolambur police station on Thursday after she went missing. However, the girl returned home on her own on Friday night. 

On information, the police talked to the girl and she told them that she was sexually assaulted by four men, including her boyfriend, at a lodge in Tirumangalam. Based on her inputs, the police arrested the minor’s boyfriend, K Ezhumalai alias Vicky, of Padi, E Ramu (39) of Padi, R Krishnaraj (33) of Anna Nagar and Balachandran alias Murugan (30) of Villivakkam. 

The police said Ezhumalai and the victim, his neighbour, were in a relationship but the parents were against it. On Wednesday, he took the girl to a park in Padi and later booked a room in the lodge. Ezhumalai’s friends reached the room and sexually assaulted her. On Friday night, Ezhumalai dropped her home, the police said. All four accused were working as plumbers and house painters, the police said. 

Meanwhile, a 28-year-old man, who had been absconding from Odisha in connection with a Pocso case, was arrested in the city on Friday. The accused, Sanjaykumar Panda, of Angul district, had been absconding in connection with a Pocso case registered in the Pallahara police station in 2017. The Odisha police recently received information that Sanjaykumar had been hiding in New Washermanpet. A police team from Odisha reached the city and secured the accused from a rice mandi. He was produced before a magistrate here to be taken to Odisha.