A woman autorickshaw driver was allegedly beaten up by a gang of three persons, leaving her with serious injuries, including fractured ribs and spine, at the Chathangad beach in Kuzhuppilly village in what is suspected to be a contract job on Monday midnight.
The victim, identified as Jaya T.K., 43, of Cheruvypu in Kuzhippilly, remains admitted to a private hospital where her condition is said to be critical. Her family and friends alleged it to be a paid job, and that she had had threats before. The Njarakkal police registered a case invoking a phalanx of charges including attempt to murder. The police identified the accused who, they claimed, would be nabbed soon.
According to the police, it started with one of the accused hiring her service for a trip to a hospital from the autorickshaw stand near Pallathamkulangara Bhagavathy Temple at Kuzhuppilly on Monday around 6.30 p.m. Two others boarded the vehicle along the way. They then took her to a private hospital in the city and the Government Medical College Hospital, Kalamassery, in the guise of visiting a friend. She was then asked to drop them at the Chathangad beach saying that their vehicle was parked there.
But on reaching there around 11.30 p.m., they demanded that they be taken to High Court Junction, which she declined at which the accused allegedly started assaulting her.
According to the first information report, an attempt was made to smother her, and when she tried to flee, they restrained her and started beating her with a blunt object. They also robbed her of her mobile phone worth ₹12,000.
The accused left her at the beach, and a youngster who was sleeping in the open was alerted by her wailing. When he approached her, she was in a collapsed state and requested him to alert Ilyas, an autorickshaw driver at the same stand, the police said.
“She was in such a bad state that she could not even lift her head and was crying out of pain. The Njarakkal police had also reached the spot by then. She could not even be carried into the vehicle,” said Ilyas.
“She has been driving autorickshaw for many years now and even accepted long-distance late-night trips. We doubt that it was a paid job as she had in the past faced threats,” said her sister and a friend.
The police have booked the accused under IPC Sections 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 392 (robbery), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt by dangerous weapons) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention).
Published - June 12, 2024 01:46 am IST
