KOLLAM: A Keralite accused of abusing a minor girl, who was extradited from Saudi Arabia, was brought here from Riyadh on Tuesday by a police team led by Kollam City Police Commissioner Merin Joseph. Sunil Kumar, 38, who had been absconding for two years, was arrested in the Saudi capital with Interpol help three weeks ago owing to an India-Saudi Arabia extradition treaty.
The pending case was taken up by Merin after she took charge as Kollam commissioner. The police soon approached Saudi Interpol after a red-corner notice was issued against the accused by the National Central Bureau India. The team from Kerala left for Riyadh on Sunday to bring him back.
Apart from Merin, the team comprised Kollam district crime record bureau assistant commissioner M Anil Kumar and Oachira CI R Prakash.
The incident took place in 2017 when Sunil had come home for vacation from the Middle East where he had been working for long. He established contact with the girl’s family with the help of his friend who happened to be her paternal uncle.
Belonging to a backward community, the Clappana native was 13-years-old when she was abused by Sunil. The crime came to light after the victim’s teacher, who came to know about the incident from her classmates, alerted Childline. Based on which the NGO launched a probe and found out Sunil had been frequently abusing the child.
The accused fled to the Gulf after the girl committed suicide while she was lodged in the Government Mahila Mandiram at Karicode in Kollam. Sunil has been slapped with various charges, including rape, child abuse and atrocities towards people from backward communities, said a special branch officer.