KOCHI: The police team probing the rape and sexual assault case involving tattoo artist Sujeesh P S has been putting in its best effort to collect evidence. However, it has faced a setback as the young woman, who first raised the rape allegation on social media, is yet to file a complaint against the artist.
Though the police repeatedly approached the 18-year-old survivor, who detailed the sexual assault by Sujeesh in a social media post, she and her family have taken a stand to not move legally against him.
The police had put their hopes heavily on the survivor’s complaint to crack the case as the possibility of obtaining forensic and medical evidence against Sujeesh was high considering that the crime had taken place recently. According to her post on March 2, she was assaulted a week before when she went to the studio of Sujeesh to get a tattoo done.
“The possibility of medical evidence in this particular incident was high compared to other complaints in which the crime occurred a few months back. But the girl hasn’t lodged a complaint so far,” a police officer said, adding that they have completed the medical examination of the other victims who have lodged complaints.
“We are verifying the statements of the victims. We have also collected the statements of the medical experts who have conducted examination of the victims,” the officer said, adding that they are waiting for the report on the cyber forensic analysis of the laptop and mobile phone of Sujeesh.
Meanwhile, Sujeesh who is in police custody, maintains that he is innocent and the allegations have been levelled against him to tarnish his reputation. The police have done his DNA profiling apart from the potency test. The statements of the staffers of the tattoo studios have been taken and we are corroborating them,” the officer said.