49-year-old man held three weeks after abducting teenager from Alappuzha

Alappuzha: A 49-year-old man, who allegedly abducted a 19-year-old girl by doling out a false marriage promise, was arrested after evading arrest for nearly three weeks.

The teenager was rescued from a house at Chengalikonam in Anchal where she was lodged for 18 days. She told the police officers that Raghu abused her and subjected her to cruel treatment.

The police said the accused who was married twice, abducted the teenager from Charumoodu near Nooranad, on March 20, on his bike.

“The man made the girl believe that he was only 30 and unmarried. He asked her to ride a pillion over a short distance to Adoor. However, he took her straight to Anchal and threatened to kill her if she objected,” said a police source.

“Both didn’t have mobile phones with them and it made tracing them a herculean task. We learned they passed through Anchal, Nilamel, and Kadakkal areas in the Kollam district.” A special team led by Chengannur DySP K N Rajesh probed the missing case.

The probe team found out that Raghu had earlier stayed with another woman in Anchal and did rubber tapping works there. The team searched rubber plantations in the Kollam-Thiruvananthapuram border areas for 15 days. He was nabbed from Mavila in Anchal Monday morning.

The same day he abducted the teenager, the accused allegedly attempted to sexually abuse the eight-year-old disabled girl of a distant relative in Charumoodu. “We have also lodged a case under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act against him,” the police source said.

The accused was produced before the Mavelikkara Judicial First-Class court and remanded.