3 men kidnap, rape 17-year-old girl in Kanchi, two arrested

CHENNAI: Three men kidnapped a 17-year-old girl from near a temple in Kancheepuram town late on Monday evening and repeatedly raped her on the Palar river bank on the outskirts of the town, police said.

After the girl returned home on Tuesday morning and informed her parents, police picked up autorickshaw drivers Deva, 35, and Rajan, 30, before a court sent them to jail.

The battered girl was rushed to the government hospital in Kancheepuram and a hunt launched for the third accused. The girl had completed Class XII and was preparing to appear for a few competitive exams, an officer said.

40 autorickshaw drivers quizzed

Late in the evening on Monday, a police officer said, the girl hailed Deva’s auto near her house and told him to take her to a temple in the town.

When they arrived there, she found it was shut for the day and decided to return home in the same auto that was still at the spot.

While she was returning home, the victim told police, the driver began a conversation and asked if she knew about a similar temple near Palar river. That temple, he said, attracted huge crowds every day and was open till late. When the girl expressed her desire to visit the temple, the auto driver turned towards the river.

On the way, the girl told investigation officers, the auto driver called two other friends and asked them to join him, telling the girl that they would talk to the priests and arrange for a “special darshan” at the temple. After a while, two men got in and the driver proceeded to a spot which was completely deserted and there were no signs of the temple. When she wanted to know where they had brought her, the three men beat her into silence her before repeatedly sexually assaulting her, the girl said in her statement.

District superintendent of police Santhosh Haidmeni put a deputy superintendent in charge of the investigation. At least 40 autorickshaw drivers who operated in and around Ennaikara Street, from where the girl was picked up on Monday night, were questioned and photographed..

Their photographs were sent through WhatsApp to a woman inspector who was with the girl. The victim picked out the photographs of Deva and Rajan as those of two of her tormentors. After they were taken in, the two confessed to the crime, an officer said.