KANNUR: A special investigation team under Dindigul SP Ramanipriya has been formed to probe the sexual assault on a 40-year-old woman from Kannur by an unidentified gang at Palani. Tamil Nadu DGP C Shylendra Babu ordered so in response to Kerala DGP Anil Kant’s letter seeking a detailed investigation regarding the incident and action against the Palani police who failed to help the husband of the woman when she was abducted by the gang.
According to the Thalasserry police, the incident took place on June 19 as the woman reached Palani with her husband to offer prayers at the Lord Muruga temple. Originally from Tamil Nadu, the couple had reached Thalassery only three months ago.
Before that, they were in Ernakulam. When the husband had gone to a hotel nearby in the evening to buy food, a three-member gang dragged her to a lodge nearby where she was abused sexually. When her husband tried to stop them, he was beaten up by the lodge owner and his goons.
Though he went to the Palani police station, they too had sent him back without listening to his complaint. After the woman was released the next day, the couple approached the police again but the officers there threatened them, the husband said.
Traumatised, they did not dare to report the incident to the police in Kannur when they returned to Thalassery. But the woman was severely injured in the assault and could not stand up on her own. After a few days, the husband took her to the General Hospital in Thalassery. Seeing the condition of the woman, the doctors informed the Thalassery police about the cruelty.
She was then referred to the Government Medical College Hospital in Pariyaram, where she is now under treatment. When the Thalasserry police reached the hospital, the couple recounted the torture they had to face in Palani. The couple also mailed a complaint to DGP Anil Kant who duly asked Kannur City Police Commissioner R Ilango to launch an investigation.
SIT VISITS PALANI
The special investigation team under Ramanipriya visited Palani on Monday. It has collected the CCTV footage from the area