KOCHI: An exhaustive investigation by Kochi City police helped nab the migrant worker who brutally raped a 59-year-old woman and left the city within 72 hours of the crime.
Firdous Ali, 28, of Nagoan, Assam, offered a lift to the woman, who was travelling to Aluva, in the auto-rickshaw he had hired from Ernakulam North railway station to the nearest location from where she could access a bus. He ended up sexually assaulting her in a thicket near the railway tracks between Kammattipadam and Ponnurunni. The incident occurred on Wednesday.
Residents, who responded on hearing the cries of the victim, took the severely injured woman to hospital.
Police officers initially based their investigation on the statement of the victim. CCTV footage collected from the railway station premises showed the woman with the migrant worker under the North overbridge. The investigation was based around the auto-rickshaw stand and railway station premises.
Upon realising that the man had been arrested in a drug case a few months back by Kadavanthra police, officers turned their attention to the phone number and other details in that case and identified Firdous. An investigation carried out with the assistance of the cyber cell revealed that Firdous was at the railway station premises and Kammattipadam on that day.
However, the probe hit a roadblock when the mobile phone was found to be switched off. But it reached his doorstep when the phone was switched on on Saturday morning and he was arrested from Kaloor. In the interrogation that followed, he confessed to the crime. A team under Central Police Assistant Commissioner C Jayakumar carried out evidence gathering with the accused on Sunday.
“After the incident, he made it to South Station after consuming liquor from a nearby bar. He then took a train to Angamaly. He then took a bus back into the city,” said an officer. According to officers, Firdous arrived in Kerala seven years ago and worked in Wayanad before moving to Kochi. He was working at a restaurant in the city. The victim, reportedly a native of Alappuzha, is out of danger. Officers said the woman, who did odd jobs to earn a livelihood, is recuperating at Kalamassery MCH.
Arrested accused a pervert: Police
The police on Sunday recorded the arrest of Firdous Ali in the rape case. He was produced in court which sent him to judicial custody. The police said Ali was a pervert. A detailed probe will be carried out, they said. The police will move to court seeking his custody for further investigation.