Kochi: Police have submitted a charge-sheet in the case relating to the sexual assault of an eight-year-old at Edayapuram in Aluva.
A special investigation team headed by District Police Chief Vivek Kumar filed the charge-sheet against Christel (27), a native of Chengal near Neyyattinkara in Thiruvananthapuram district, before the Ernakulam Additional District and Sessions (POCSO) Court.
There are 115 witnesses in the 1,262-page charge-sheet. As many as 30 documents and 18 materials have been identified as evidence. The accused, Christel, who is a history-sheeter, has been charged with kidnapping, rape and theft.
The incident happened on the morning of September 7. The accused abducted the girl, the daughter of a guest worker, who was sleeping with her mother and three siblings in her house, before sexually abusing her. Three mobile phones were also stolen from the girl's house that night.
Christel was nabbed the same day in the evening while attempting to escape by jumping into the river below the Marthanda Verma bridge.
The incident happened a little over a month after a five-year-old Bihari girl was raped and killed by a migrant labourer in the nearby Aluva market, which left the entire state in shock. Ashfaq Alam, the convict in that crime, was sentenced to death recently.
The girl was rescued by her neighbours who searched for her after hearing loud cries from outside. The girl was found naked and injured. The family came to know about the girl’s abduction only when the neighbours brought her back home. Police were alerted about the incident and they started a manhunt leading to the timely arrest of Christel.
