Mangaluru: Addressing a media meet here on Sunday, district superintendent of police Dr Sharanappa A D narrated how his force succeeded in nabbing a culprit who sexually assaulted a college girl on her way home in Koila in Puttur taluk, within 24 hours of the incident.
Pic courtesy: DK Police
A sixteen-year-old girl studying in Standard IX, had as usual left home and walked up a distance of 3.5 kms to the Koila farm gate on Saturday. They she had gone to school by a jeep.
Being a half-day, around noon, she had left school and travelled by a jeep from Uppinangady to the Koila farm gate. While walking towards home through the Olakadame Konemajalu route all alone around 1-00 pm, a stranger came from behind and caught hold of her at Parappu.
Using the dupatta of her churidar, he gagged her and dragged her along over a distance of 100 metres into an acacia grove nearby. Then he sexually assaulted her for about half an hour. Thereafter she complained to her parents on reaching home.
His identity was not known. But she gave his other details like the red lungi and the black half-sleeved shirt he had on. He was about 5’5″ tall with a slim bodyline, curly hair and bushy beard.
He had a mobile phone and an umbrella with him and wore black chappals. She also remembered that his teeth had turned red with clear signs of gutkha-munching habit.
The matter was reported to the police. Under the guidance of the SP and additional SP Vincent Shantakumar, two teams headed by Bantwal ASP Rahul Kumar S and Puttur DySP Bhaskar Rai N G were formed to nab the culprit. A thorough search was made in the entire taluk and surrounding villages, went continued all through the night.
Enquiries revealed that a man resembling such descriptions often came to work in a Shetty house in Koila. The Kadaba police nabbed him from the Shakhepura bus stop near Koila under their jurisdiction on Sunday. The victim correctly identified him.
He revealed his name as Shekhar K, son of Podiya Nalike of Kalkadi in Koila. He was charged under the POCSO Act 2012 and a few other sections of the IPC, produced in front of a magistrate and sent to judicial custody.
The SP has congratulated his teams on a good job done and assured them of suitable rewards and letters of commendation.
