Keralam: Wife hires men to abduct husband, rape girlfriend

A woman was abducted and raped and her boyfriend was severely beaten by a six-member gang who were allegedly hired by the man’s wife, police officers in Keralam’s Thrissur said on Thursday.

Five people, including the man’s wife, have been arrested by the Thrissur police for alleged involvement in the crime, the officers said. The man, his wife and the rest of the accused are residents of Tamil Nadu, and the rape victim is a native of Nilambur in Keralam.

“The incident took place on September 22 when the couple checked into a lodge near the state transport bus stand in Thrissur. A gang of six men, posing as police officers, barged into the room at the lodge and kidnapped them,” Thrissur City Police Commissioner Nakul Rajendra Deshmukh told HT.

The couple were taken to Tiruppur in Tamil Nadu, the officer said, where the man was brutally assaulted and abandoned outside a hospital there. The man is reported to have multiple fractures in his hands and legs.

The woman, according to the Thrissur police, was shifted to a separate car and allegedly raped inside the vehicle before being abandoned.

A senior police officer said the plan to kidnap the couple and assault them was hatched by the man’s wife who had tracked his mobile phone’s location to the lodge in Thrissur.

“The man’s wife was part of the gang which abducted him and his girlfriend from the lodge. Though the rape and the man’s assault took place in Tiruppur, we will be investigating the case as they were kidnapped from here,” the officer said.

Five of the accused have been produced before the magistrate and remanded to judicial custody, but a sixth, who is suspected to be a juvenile, is yet to be apprehended.

The accused were identified as Devi, Thomas, Shankar, Palraj and Raghupathi. They have been charged for various offences including gang rape, kidnapping and grievous assault.