Three in custody over 8-year-old girl's abduction, sexual assault in Kerala

Kochi, Sep 10 (PTI) The Kerala police on Sunday took into custody three migrant labourers in connection with the abduction and alleged sexual assault of an eight-year-old girl who was found abandoned in a paddy field near Aluva.

Police said they have taken into custody three labourers and their role was being investigated.

A senior police official said they will seek the custody of the prime accused Krystal Raj (27), who was caught on Thursday from under the Marthanda Verma bridge near Aluva in Ernakulam district where he was hiding and drinking alcohol.

"We will have to interrogate him to ascertain the roles of those under custody," the official told PTI.

The minor, daughter of a migrant labour couple from Bihar, was abandoned in a paddy field near Aluva here on Thursday, following which the police caught the Thiruvananthapuram-based suspect within a few hours.

The girl, who had suffered injuries to her private parts in the sexual assault, underwent surgery and her condition was stable, police had said.

Meanwhile, State Minister P Rajeeve, today visited the parents of the survivor child and informed them that the government has approved an initial assistance of Rs one lakh to the family.

The assault incident came after a similar one in the last week of July, when a five-year-old girl, whose parents were also migrant workers from Bihar, was abducted, brutally raped and killed allegedly by — 28-year-old Asafak Alam — who also hails from that state. Her body was found abandoned amid garbage in a marshy area behind the Aluva fish market, near the Periyar River.

In the latest incident, the man allegedly abducted the eight-year-old girl from outside her home in Aluva while she was sleeping and then sexually assaulted her.

This child did not suffer the same fate as the five-year-old victim of the earlier incident who was killed, as one of the local residents of the area saw her being taken away by the suspect at around 2.15 am on September 7. He alerted the neighbours and they all went in search of the girl.

The local resident told a TV channel that he saw the suspect walking along with the girl near his house at around 2.15 am.

"I woke up to go to the toilet and, as it was raining, I looked outside to see how heavy the rain was. That is when I saw the man and the girl walking by. The girl was crying and he was raising his hand at her as if he was going to hit her.

"I woke up some of my neighbours and we went out in the heavy rain looking for her and calling out for her. After some time, we saw her coming out from a nearby paddy field and she came towards us," he had said.

One of the men of the local search party was an auto driver who had ferried the victim to school at times and he recognised her. All of them together took her home, the eyewitness had said.

The victim was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Kalamassery by the locals, police had said. PTI RRT RRT KH