After a day-long interrogation by the district police, suspended Devanga Arts College assistant professor Nirmala Devi, who was arrested on charges of attempting to traffic college girls, was on Tuesday remanded in judicial custody by Judicial Magistrate K. Mumtaz till April 28.
Virudhunagar Superintendent of Police M. Rajarajan claimed that the woman had confessed to the charges against her.
Ms. Devi, who was picked up from her house here on Monday late evening, was grilled at the All Women Police station in Aruppukottai. Police claimed that she had secured the acquaintance of an assistant professor at the Madurai Kamaraj University and through him met another research scholar who allegedly sought her help to trap girls.
“She has confessed that she acted at the behest of these two persons and tried to lure the girls for someone in the university. However, she said she did not know for whom these two persons had sought her help,” a police officer said.
The police seized two mobile phones from her and three phones from the girls for further probe.
“The leaked audio clip is not the only conversation she had with the girls. Apparently, there were more conversations, including exchange of texts, between Devi and one of the girls,” a police source said. One of the girls had made a call to Ms. Devi for 24 seconds after which she had called her for explaining her plan to the four girls.
Police suspect that the audio clip could have been leaked by persons with vested interests. There was an ongoing dispute among members of the management of the college.
