Kerala: Woman gang-raped in front of toddler son, husband 'took money from friend'

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A 24-year-old gangrape survivor on Friday said her husband had taken money from one of the accused men a day before the incident, and that she was abused in the presence of her toddler son.
Police have recorded the arrest of five men in the incident which took place-allegedly with tacit approval of her husband-at Kadinamkulam in the district on Thursday night.
Investigators have detained one of the suspects, Manoj, while another one, identified as Noufal, is on the run. Seven men were involved in the incident, police said.
Police named the arrested men as Mansoor, 40, Akbar Shah alias Akku 20, Arshad, 35, Rajan Sebastian, 62, and the woman's 33-year-old husband.
Except the woman's husband, arraigned as the fifth accused, and Sebastian, all others are residents of Channankara near Kadinamkulam.
The woman suffered injuries in the incident, police said. Her body bore cigarette burns and bite injuries.
Kadinamkulam police inspector P V Vinesh Kumar said the woman hailed from Pallinada near Kaniyapuram, and has been living with her husband and two children, aged 5 and 3, at Pothencode.
She reportedly told the police that her husband took her and children to Vettuthura beach on Wednesday evening, and visited Rajan Sebastian's residence nearby. During the visit, she noticed Sebastian handing over some cash to her husband.
The family visited Sebastian on Thursday evening, where five others were also present. The men consumed alcohol, and they forced her to drink. The woman told the police that she resisted when they touched her inappropriately.
A while later, her husband and Sebastian went out.
Afterwards, the other men told the woman that her husband had picked up a fight with someone outside, and asked her to intervene.
Mansoor, Akbar Shah, Arshad and Noufal took her and the three-year-old son-while the older child and Manoj remained in the house-in an autorickshaw to an abandoned building about a kilometre away and raped her. The woman said Arshad snatched had away her mobile phone and Rs1,000.
The survivor said she managed to escape from the building with her son and sought help from three youngsters who were passing by.
They took her to her house, and waited till the police arrived. The woman's husband had returned with their elder son before the police.
The men have been charged under IPC sections 366 (kidnap), 376D (gang rape), 394 (causing hurt for robbery) and section 75 of Juvenile Justice Act for assaulting the child.
Rural SP B Ashok said the police were probing whether the rape was pre-planned.
The state women's commission visited the woman at her residence at Pallinada and registered a case.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)