One of the five persons arrested from Tamil Nadu in connection with the gang rape of a Mysuru girl was involved in a murder case in the State, according to police. The other four, including a 17-year-old boy, did not have any criminal case history, police said.
While four of the accused were arrested from Tiruppur district, one was picked up from Erode district in west Tamil Nadu.
Sources in Tiruppur district police told The Hindu on Saturday that the police teams from Karnataka arrested N. Murugesan (22), S. Joseph (28), S. Prakash a.k.a. Aravind (21) and the juvenile boy within the limits of the Cheyur police station near Avinashi in Tiruppur district. Police teams from Karnataka nabbed the other accused, Boopathi (28), from Talavadi in Erode district. Two more accused from Tiruppur district, who were allegedly involved in the gang rape, have absconded.
The Cheyur police also seized a mini-truck allegedly used by the accused and handed it over to the Karnataka police on Saturday. Murugesan was allegedly involved in a murder in Erode district that occurred around two years ago.
The accused were daily wage labourers and used to frequently visit Karnataka by pretending to transport vegetables from Tamil Nadu, the sources claimed.
Around 15 police personnel from Karnataka commenced their search operations in Tiruppur and Erode districts at around 9 p.m. on Friday. The five accused were nabbed after nearly 11 hours of searching through the night, and the police teams left for Karnataka at around 8 a.m. on Saturday along with the accused, police sources said.
