The police on Tuesday arrested two persons on the charge of raping a 40-year-old software professional at an island resort near Poovar, about 30km from here, early on November 28.
Thiruvananthapuram Rural District Police Chief A.J. Thomaskutty told a press conference here that Lakhinath (20) and Presona Gam (22) both natives of Jorhat district of Assam, had been arrested in connection with the incident.
Apart from evidence, including fingernail scratch marks, pointing to their involvement, the duo had confessed to the crime, the officer said.
The two were contract labourers of a Kottayam-based pest-control firm to which the resort had outsourced cleaning and pest-control services.
Presenting the two accused before mediapersons at his office, Mr. Thomaskutty said the woman had reached Thiruvananthapuram on November 27 as part of a 30-member team from Bangalore and had checked into the resort by noon that day. The accused, taking advantage of the time she was away from her single-occupancy room, had loosened the screws of the back door latch and returned around 1 a.m. and tried to open the door. They retreated when the woman heard them and woke up.
Finally, around 2.30 a.m., the two forcibly barged into the room and while one of them pinned the woman down on the bed, the other abused her, Mr. Thomaskutty said.
Samples to be matched
The two had been booked under Section 376 (D) of the Indian Penal Code, for gang rape, and will be produced before court on Wednesday. The samples taken from the duo would be cross-matched with serological evidence including hair follicles and seminal fluids collected from the crime scene, Mr. Thomaskutty said.
The broken beads of a bracelet worn by one of the attackers were collected from the crime scene along with other evidence.
The investigation team, led by Deputy Superintendent of Police (Neyyattinkara) Y.R. Rustom, managed to identify the two accused with the beaded bracelets in photographs supplied by the resort management.
The resort was asked to keep an eye on the duo and the resort management on Monday informed the police that two were found to have injuries on their bodies.
“We then questioned them, and they confessed to the crime, stating that while one of them raped the woman, the other made an attempt before the woman broke away and raised an alarm,” the officer said.
The resort management, Mr. Thomaskutty added, would not be held liable for not informing the police about the incident in this case, since the victim, through her firm, had lodged the complaint.
Though the incident occurred around 2.30 a.m., the police was informed only after 5 p.m. the same day.
