KOZHIKODE: The Police have arrested four youths in connection with gang-raping a Dalit girl at Thottipalam here. The accused are identified as Sayuj Rajeevan, 24, Shibu Kumar,32, Rahul Raveendran, 22, and Akshay Paloli, 22. All of them are from nearby Kayakkodi, Kuttiyadi areas.
The main accused Sayuj, police said, pretended to be in love with the 17-year-old girl and lured her into an isolated tourist spot called Janakikkadu. Once there, Sayuj, along with his friends, gave her a juice laced with sedatives and gang-raped her. The locals found the girl near the bridge on Kuttiady-Maruthonkara Road on Tuesday night. She was reportedly attempting to commit suicide unable to withstand the trauma of the incident.
"We registered the complaint on Tuesday. After nabbing the accused on Wednesday morning, we took them to the crime spot for evidence collection. The investigations are on. The accused will be produced before the court on Thursday," said Nidhin Raj, DySP, Nadapuram. The police have filed cases under Sections 376, 506, and 366-A of IPC, POCSO Act, and Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.