Even after a month-long search, the police are yet to trace Indiesh Kumar, the second accused in the Chevayur rape case in which a 21-year-old differently abled girl was sexually assaulted by a gang of three inside a parked bus.
Though the police have claimed that the search is on for the accused, human rights activists and women’s welfare association leaders have alleged that Kumar is exploiting his political connections to evade arrest.
A women’s organisation leader said the accused was convicted in a stabbing case earlier in which three persons had sustained serious injuries. He had undergone imprisonment in the case, she added.
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It was on July 5 that the girl was reportedly assaulted by three persons after she was taken to a parked bus at Mundikkalthazham. Kunnamangalam natives Gopish and Shameer, the other accused, have been arrested. The police have been searching for Kumar in suspected hideouts and the houses of his relatives and friends in Kozhikode and other locations. Inspections were also held in various ashrams with which he was allegedly connected.
The girl, found suffering from mental illness, has been hospitalised after the incident. As her mother was also found suffering from various mental and physical ailments, her protection was taken up by the Department of Social Justice.