Fugitive in Suryanelli sex scandal arrested

IANS/Kottayam The lone convict in the infamous Suryanelli sex case, who has been on the run since 2005 while out on parole, was arrested from a town in neighbouring Karnataka yesterday, the Kerala police said. Addressing reporters here, district police chief C Rajagopal said that lawyer Dharmarajan had been arrested. He dismissed rumours Dharmarajan had surrendered before the police. “Our police team has been in Karnataka for the past few days and traced and arrested him. The police team is now on their way back with the accused and is expected to be here by early Saturday,” he said. The scandal took place at Suryanelli in Idukki district in January 1996, when a 16-year-old was threatened, abducted and abused by a bus conductor and was later confined and sexually assaulted for 45 days by 42 men. The case was back in the spotlight after the Supreme Court ordered a retrial in the case on January 31 while setting aside the acquittal in 2005 by the Kerala High Court of all but one of the 35 accused convicted by a special court. Dharmarajan was the only accused convicted by the high court. After serving a brief jail term, Dharmarajan had been granted parole in 2005. However, he fled and had remained untraceable since then. Dharmarajan’s whereabouts were unknown till earlier this week when he alleged to a TV channel from an undisclosed location in Mysore that it was in his car that Rajya Sabha Deputy chairman P J Kurien, who is facing allegations of involvement in the sexual assault, was taken to a guest house in Idukki district and where he abused the 16-year-old victim. Kurien has denied the charges noting it was the first time that Dharmarajan was making such a claim and that he had never mentioned it during the trial period. After Dharmarajan’ revelation on TV, the Kerala Police, who had all along been clueless about his whereabouts, sent a team to Karnataka and tracked him down using his mobile phone records. “Once he is here, he will be presented before the special court set up for the case,” Rajagopal added. Meanwhile Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy yesterday ruled out a re-investigation against Kurien. Speaking to media in New Delhi, Chandy said: “There is no possibility of re-investigation of the rape case.”