Coimbatore: The hostel warden who was booked on charges of harassing five girl inmates surrendered before the judicial magistrate VI here on Wednesday.
S Punitha, who was absconding for over a week, was remanded in judicial custody till August 14 by magistrate Kannan. A couple of days ago, Punitha approached the Madras high court seeking anticipatory bail.
Punitha, who was a warden at a working women’s hostel in Peelamedu, had taken five inmates of the hostel to a hotel at Town Hall for dinner and asked them to consume liquor. The girls refused. Meanwhile, hostel owner Jagannathan allegedly made a WhatsApp video call to the warden and asked her to handover the mobile phone to the girls. He allegedly told the girls that he would book rooms in the hotel if they agreed to take rest.
Soon after parents of one of the girls lodged a complaint, both the accused absconded.
Jagannathan was found dead in a well two days later. He had allegedly committed suicide.
“Punitha had initially gone to Bengaluru. A special team managed to track her movements and followed her to the hiding place. However, she managed to flee to Kollam in Kerala. We were constantly tracking her,” said a police officer.
On Thursday, the investigating officers are to hold a discussion with higher officials on submitting a custody petition to the judicial magistrate to inquire the accused. They are also collecting call recordings of everyone involved in the case.
Besides, officials are trying to find the identity of a businessman who had allegedly transferred about Rs 5 lakh to Punitha before Jagannathan committed suicide.
