On Monday, November 20, the Kerala police filed a comprehensive chargesheet in a POCSO court against Krystal Raj (27), the man accused of abducting and sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl, the daughter of migrant labourers, near Aluva two months ago, reports PTI.
According to the report, the 1,262-page chargesheet was submitted in the Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions (POCSO) court, covering a range of offences including abduction, assault, rape, and robbery under the IPC and pertinent sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, the police said in an official release.
According to the release, on the chargesheet, 115 witnesses have been enumerated in addition to including 30 documents and 18 material objects as evidence.
Police, in its release, said the chargesheet was submitted in a time-bound manner, by closing all loopholes to ensure that the accused gets the maximum possible punishment.
What happened?
The incident, which occurred on September 7, involved the accused allegedly abducting, raping, and abandoning the minor girl in a paddy field near Aluva. The victim suffered injuries to her private parts, necessitating surgery. The accused had also stolen three mobile phones, including from the victim's home, on that day, police said in the chargesheet according to the release.
Krystal Raj was arrested hours after the incident, found hiding under the Marthanda Verma bridge near Aluva in Ernakulam district, where he was drinking alcohol. Attempting to escape, he jumped into a nearby river but was caught with the assistance of local residents.
Raj, who hails from Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram district, is a suspect in several criminal cases, police said in the chargesheet.
This incident occurred just a month after a five-year-old girl, whose parents were also migrant workers from Bihar, was abducted, brutally raped, killed and her body abandoned amid garbage in a marshy area behind the Aluva fish market, near the Periyar River on July 28. The accused in that case, Asafak Alam, was sentenced to be hanged till death on November 14.
The recurrence of such heinous crimes within a short span drew severe criticism from the opposition parties, Congress and the BJP, placing both the state government and the police under intense scrutiny.
