THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two people have been arrested in connection with the alleged sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old girl from Andhra Pradesh at two spas in Kovalam. The arrested have been identified as Sajith, a native of Alappuzha and Nishanth, a Poovar native, the owners of the spas. Both facilities have been closed down following the arrests.
Police said the girl was allegedly brought to one of the spas by her maternal aunt and husband in July. According to officers, she had a false Aadhaar card that showed her to be 20 years old. Officers also pointed out that before being brought to Thiruvananthapuram, she was sent to work in spas in Chennai as well.
City Police Commissioner Arul R B Krishna told TNIE that the issue came to their attention when a complaint was registered last week by one of the accused, stating that the girl had gone missing from his spa. She had fled with another youngster who worked there. On being produced before the magistrate, she expressed interest in staying with the family of the youngster.
“Her age was recorded as 20 for legal procedures, according to the Aadhaar documents. However, her phone had documents containing two Aadhaar cards with different dates of birth. Following this, we contacted the school in which she studied in Andhra Pradesh, and they sent us her transfer certificate, which revealed that she was still a minor,” the commissioner said.