THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Fast Track Special Court at Neyyattinkara found two migrant workers guilty of raping a woman IT professional in the resort they worked in at Poovar nine years ago. Judge Resmi Sadanandan found Lakhinath and Presonagam of Jorhat district in Assam, guilty of the crime that took place at ‘Poovar Island resort’ on November 28, 2013. The quantum of the sentence will be pronounced on June 18.
According to the prosecution led by special public prosecutor Ajith Thankayya, it was proven that they had raped the woman. The convicts were contract labourers of a pest-control firm to which the resort had outsourced cleaning and pest-control services. They had loosened the screws of the balcony door latch on the eve of the incident and later broke into the room and raped the survivor while she was asleep, around 2.30am.
The woman who fought back managed to grab a beaded necklace worn by one of the men. That helped the police identify the suspects from photographs of employees that were supplied by the resort’s management. The police had also claimed that the men who were arrested had nail marks as the woman scratched them to leave her.
The incident occurred when a delegation of 30 senior executives of a Bengaluru-based multinational company had checked into the island resort during a visit to the state. The survivor, a software professional, had led the group that included seven women. The case was investigated by the then Poovar circle inspector G Binu, who submitted the chargesheet in the court.