Kozikode: After many twists and turns in the rape case of an LKG student of Darul Huda English Medium School at Parakadavu, the Nadapuram police on Saturday arrested two senior students of a religious school at the place. They are Mubasheer, 18, of Panoor and Shamsudheen, 18, of Eranjolil in Thalassery. One more student involved in the case is yet to be arrested. The Nadapuram circle inspector, who investigated the case, said the arrest of the third student could be made only after further investigations, though he was among the three identified by the girl.
The temporary investigation team also faced charges of torture from Darul school bus cleaner Muneer, who was taken into custody earlier. Muneer told the media on Saturday that the police had subjected him to third-degree methods to extract a confession. Muneer was released following protest by the action committee members and his family. It was later found that Muneer was on leave to attend a wedding on the day of the crime. Kuttiyadi MLA K.K. Lathika, who visited the police station, said that the police had made a false statement of the victim girl with Muneer’s name in it.
The police were forced to record the arrest of the senior students when the victim girl in her statement to the magistrate also reiterated that she was sexually abused by three senior students. She had also identified them in photograph and in person. The two accused were remanded in judicial custody. Sources told DC that the police were delaying the arrest of the third accused due to political pressure.
The school management said that the arrested students were innocent and that the real accused was the cleaner. “A person who came to the police and confessed to the crime has been let off and two innocent students have been arrested. There is a conspiracy to malign the image of the school,” said Perode Abdul Rahman Sakhafi, representative of the school management, at a press conference.
