A police team led by Kattappana Dy SP K.M.Jijimon on Friday intensified probe in to the alleged rape and murder of 15-year- old girl Sathya, from Peerumade, after the arrest of former DMK MLA of Perambalur, Rajkumar and two of his accomplices, Mahendran and Anbarasan by Tamil Nadu police.
Rajkumar was arrested on Friday, reports reaching here said.
The girl, a student at the Chidambaram Memorial Higher Secondary School, Peerumedu, was allegedly sent to the house of Rajkumar for work as a housemaid.
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She was sent to Tamil Nadu through agents who had been recruiting girls to work in Tamil Nadu. The parents, who are workers in the estate areas and are of Tamil-origin, were provided money for this.
She was sent to Tamil Nadu on June 22 and was admitted in a serious condition at a private hospital in Perumbalur on June 29. She had been in a coma for four days, and her parents later admitted her to the Theni Medical College where she died. A postmortem report revealed that the victim was raped.
Her parents, who worked at an estate in Pampanar, lodged a complaint with the Peerumade police and three of the local agents who had allegedly helped in recruiting girls in the area, giving false promise to the parents, were absconding.
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The parents of the victim told the police that they received money from the agents with the assurance that the girl would be sent to the school in Tamil Nadu along with the daughter of Rajkumar.
The police had inputs that a racket was involved in recruiting minors from the estate area in the pretest of providing them job and a regular income.
Meanwhile, a team led by Child Welfare Committee Chairman P.G.Gopalakrishnan on Friday reached the estate lane of the victim to collect the details. Mr. Gopalakrshnan told The Hindu that they could not meet the parents of the victim as they were taken by the Tamil Nadu police for eliciting more information. He said that the committee will receive the post-mortem report within two days. If it is found that the girl had been recruited for bonded labour, cases will be registered under the Bonded Labour Abolition Act and Juvenile Justice Act. The committee also took evidences from the public and the two younger siblings of the victim were given counselling. They will be given protection by the committee, Mr. Gopalakrishnan said.
Mr. Jijimon said that the three local agents who helped in the deal by the agents from Tamil Nadu were absconding. The police were collecting more details and no one was arrested so far, Mr. Jijimon, who reached Peerumade and revived the progress of the case, said. Peerumade police Circle Inspector Binu Sreedhar is inquiring in to the case.