3 months after girl’s suicide, tenant held for sexual assault

While the mystery behind most suicide cases would remain unresolved for want of evidence or closed with the statements of relatives, Taramani police did not want to leave this case as yet another suicide.

The Class 8 student hanged self on June 14 when parents were also at home. Since the postmortem report also confirmed it as suicide, police continued investigation to ascertain the cause which pushed her to take the extreme step.

Since the girl often used her mother’s phone, police checked it and came across a suspicious SMS that said ‘Project Ready’. Police inquired the girl’s parents and found the number was used by their tenant Gunaseelan, who had vacated and shifted to Kallukuttai near Perungudi after the girl’s death.

Police, on seizing his mobile phone, found it to be recently formatted. Taking technical assistance of cyber cell, the cops, however, retrieved the erased data only to find obscene photos and videos, including that of the deceased girl, apart from child pornography material.

Meanwhile, Gunaseelan went into hiding. A hunt was launched and he was traced to Valparai. He was arrested on Wednesday.

“Gunaseelan worked as a newspaper delivery person and pretended brotherly affection towards the girl in front of her parents and offered to drop her for tuition classes. Over the days, he started misbehaving with the girl when her parents were away and took photos and videos of her obscenely. Later, he started threatening her that he would leak the photos and videos on social media and sexually assaulted her several times,” said the official.

When the girl decided to distance herself, Gunaseelan sent the SMS ‘project ready’ indicating her photos and videos are ready to be uploaded on social media. Upon seeing the message, the shocked victim went to her room and hanged self, said police.Gunaseelan was booked for abetment of suicide, Pocso Act and IT Act before being remanded.