An auto driver turned sexual predator who abused his own daughter over a period of time, impregnating her thrice, was arrested in Kumbakonam on Thursday.
The incident came to light after the police team trailing the parents of an 11-day-old infant abandoned in front of a charity hospital in Muthupillaimandapam on November 17, traced its 24-year-old mother to Ayyavadi near Kumbakonam on Wednesday.
What the mother of the infant recounted to Amudha Rani, Inspector, all women police station, was a shocking tale of incest.
Amudha Rani found the woman’s face scarred and ears mutilated, which the woman attributed to the cruelty of her father, M Rayappan (47), an auto driver, and a resident of Karikulam in Kumbakonam.
The woman told police that she lost her mother at a very tender age, and that she was brought up by her paternal grandparents at Jayankondam.
When her grandparents died five years ago, her father brought her back to his house at Ayyavadi in Kumbkonam and had her locked in the house, cutting her off from the world and started sexually abusing her. Despite Rayappan marrying a second time, the torture continued and she became a mother thrice.
She has two children, a boy aged four years and a girl aged two years, by her father and the newborn was her third child. Rayappan used to shift residences whenever she entered labour, she said.
There was a brief respite for the victim when she managed to escape from the clutches of Rayappan and found work in Tirupur.
However, since she was pregnant, she returned to Kumbakonam. A college student based in Kumbakonam, who took pity on her plight, got her admitted to the government hospital.
Based on her complaint, all women police station registered a case under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 376 (rape), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (ii) (criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under various sections of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women Act and arrested M Rayappan on Thursday night.
