Kochi, Jul 10: Kerala's crime branch arrested 53 people, including a 70-year-old retired naval officer and five women, in connection with the Paravur sex scandal on Saturday. A 14-year-old girl was sexually abused by more than 100 people, including her father at Paravur near Kochi in the past two years.
The police alleged that the retired naval officer, Rajasekharan Nair, misused his friendship with her father and abused the girl.Among those yet to be arrested is K S Sakthivel, a circle inspector working with the special branch of Tamil Nadu police in Kanyakumari district.
"He is absconding and the crime branch has sent teams to Tamil Nadu to arrest him,'' said superintendent of police B Unniraja, who is heading the investigating team.
There are reports that the circle inspector has moved an anticipatory bail plea at the court in Aluva, near Kochi. On Friday, the crime branch conducted an identification parade of some of the accused.
The girl reportedly identified eight men including Thomas Varghese, a local CPM leader and Manikandan, a Tamil Nadu-based contractor. The sex scandal came to light three months ago, when the girl's mother lodged a complaint against her husband saying that he pushed their daughter into prostitution.
