India News | Accused in Walayar Rape Case Found Dead; Kerala Police Suspect Suicide
Get latest articles and stories on India at LatestLY. One of the accused in the Walayar rape case allegedly died by suicide at a closed-down factory near Aluva here on Wednesday, police said.
Kochi, Oct 25 (PTI) One of the accused in the Walayar rape case allegedly died by suicide at a closed-down factory near Aluva here on Wednesday, police said.
The accused, Madhu M, was found hanging in his room within the factory premises at Binanipuram near Aluva, they said.
He was working there for a Chennai-based company which was taking away chemical soil from the area. He used to check the soil properties before it was transported, they added.
The inquest has been carried out and the suicide is suspected based on the preliminary investigation, police said.
Also Read | Delhi Air Pollution Update: Air Quality in National Capital Dips to 'Poor' Category, AQI Reaches 249.
The postmortem will be carried out on Thursday.
Madhu is the second accused in the case.
In November 2020, another accused -- Pradeep Kumar -- allegedly died by suicide.
The Walayar case refers to the alleged rape and murder of two girls who were siblings.
The girls were found dead under mysterious circumstances in their hut within a span of nearly two months in 2017 after their alleged sexual assault.
The eldest of the siblings, aged 13, was found hanging inside their hut on January 13, 2017 and her nine-year old sister died on March 4, in the same manner.
Though the mother had alleged that it was a case of murder, Walayar police came to the conclusion that the girls were sexually abused in an unnatural way by five persons including a juvenile for nearly one year till they were forced to die by suicide by the accused by trespassing into their dwelling.
Allowing appeals filed by the state government and the mother of the children, the High Court ordered a retrial in the case in January 2021, observing that there were "serious lapses" in the investigation and that there had been "miscarriage of justice".
The High Court had also set aside an October 2019 order of the special court under the POCSO Act acquitting the five accused for want of evidence.
A public outcry and protests had erupted in the state after the acquittal of the accused, seeking justice for the family of the girls.
The LDF government had handed over the CBI the probe into the death of the two sisters shortly after the Kerala High Court ordered a retrial in the sensational case.
However, a chargesheet, submitted by the CBI before the POCSO court in December 2021, also said that the girls had died by suicide after they were sexually molested.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)