A special police team here on Sunday arrested an AIADMK functionary in connection with the abduction and rape of a minor girl from Andhra Pradesh.
The team picked up Pon Kamaraj (44), Thuraiyur panchayat union chairman and AIADMK union secretary, in the early hours near the Central Bus Stand. His car driver Dharmar (30) was also arrested and the car seized.
The 17-year-old girl escaped from confinement in a rented house at Karumandapam in the city and was rescued by the police on May 29.
The team arrested Pon Kamaraj, following an investigation and after obtaining confessional statements from K. Karthika Devi alias Asha (25) and M. Sakthivel (34) of Thuraiyur.
Asha and Sakthivel were arrested along with four more persons, including a Bangladeshi national, on Saturday. With this, seven persons have been arrested so far in this case.
Police sources said the minor girl was sold to Sakthivel after he paid Rs. 30,000 to Asha at Salem in the last week of May. He had then got in touch with Dharmar to convey the information to Pon Kamaraj. The minor girl was believed to have been sent with Pon Kamaraj in a car from Salem.
The girl was allegedly raped by Pon Kamaraj in the vehicle and in his farmhouse at Senappanallur in Thuraiyur taluk before she landed at Tiruchi where she was sexually assaulted by three persons. The Cantonment Police have booked a case under various IPC sections including 376 (rape) and 365 (kidnap or abduction) besides Sections 4, 6, 8 of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 and Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act. Pon Kamaraj and Dharmar were later remanded in judicial custody and lodged in the Central Prison here.
Following his arrest Pon Kamaraj was expelled from the primary membership of the AIADMK, party sources said.
