Chennai: The Tamil Nadu Police has formed a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the alleged gang rape of a woman from Kerala's Kannur in the temple town of Palani.
The SIT was formed after Kerala Police chief Anil Kant wrote a letter to his Tamil Nadu counterpart C Shailendrababu seeking a detailed investigation and action against the apathy of the local police in registering the case.
Ramanipriya, Superintendents of Police, Dindigul, will head the SIT. The investigators visited the crime scene and recorded the statements of hotel managers, autorickshaw drivers and shop owners in the area.
The case
A 40-year-old woman and her husband have lodged a complaint with the police at Kannur district in Kerala that she was tortured and raped by an unidentified gang at Palani in Tamil Nadu. The alleged incident happened on June 20, according to the Kerala Police.
The woman and her husband are from Tamil Nadu but were staying in Kannur district for job purposes.
Horror during pilgrimage
According to the woman's husband, the couple were on a pilgrimage to the famous hill shrine of Palani and when her husband had gone to buy food, the woman was forcibly taken to a nearby lodge, detained, and raped by an unidentified gang including the manager of the lodge.
The husband said that when he reached the lodge, he was assaulted by the gang including the manager. The couple also complained that she was brutally tortured and even attacked with beer bottles in her private parts.
Woman recuperating
Moosa Vallikadan, Thalassery Deputy Superintendent of Police, told IANS, "I have gone through the medical report at the Government Medical College, Kannur, but on the basis of that, there are no injuries as claimed by the woman. As the alleged incident had taken place on June 20, according to the complainants, the wounds could have healed also."
Police officials also said that the woman was recuperating at the Government Medical College Hospital and they would soon speak to her and track down the assailants.
