Teen’s plaint helps police arrest serial sex offender

KOCHI: A serial sex offender, who allegedly raped girls with the false promise of marriage and abandoned them once they got pregnant, has been exposed by the police. The alleged crimes of Shafeek P A, 43, of Thrissur came under the scanner after an 18-year-old girl approached police with a complaint stating that he had repeatedly raped her from September 2019 to August 2020. 

The complainant alleged that the accused had lured her with the promise of marriage and that he deserted her after she conceived. Though the case was first registered at Vadanappally on March 15, it was later transferred to the Thrikkakara police station, as the crime took place when the girl was staying with her mother, who worked as a kitchen helper Shafeek’s hotel in the area.

Following a probe based on the girl’s complaint, the police found that the accused had similarly exploited another woman at Mathamangalam in Thrissur, before abandoning her after she conceived. The woman who was allegedly raped gave birth to baby, which is now nine months old, said police sources.

“Shafeek was arrested on April 14 and remanded in judicial custody. He was nabbed from Coimbatore, where he had gone into hiding. We suspect more girls would have fallen prey to him ,” said an officer.
According to the complaint lodged by the victim in Thrikkakkara case, after she became pregnant, Shafeek threatened her to hush-up. Investigating officers noted that Shafeek had allegedly raped the girl when she had just turned 18. He forcibly dragged her to his room from where the girl was residing, according to officers. 

Though Shafeek compelled the girl to get her pregnancy terminated, the doctor whom they consulted refused to abort the foetus since she was in the fourth month of pregnancy. Officers said the victim had also alleged that Shafeek had absconded from Thrikkakara with Rs 1.18 lakh, which her mother had saved after years of slogging.