46-year-old visually impaired man held for kidnapping, marrying and sexually assaulting minor girl near Sankarapuram | Chennai News

KALLAKURICHI: Sankarapuram police on Wednesday arrested a visually impaired man, aged 46, on charges of abducting, marrying and sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl in a village in Kallakurichi district. The arrested person was identified as S. Velmurugan, who runs a mobile phone charging shop in the village. He was married and had three children.

Police said the girl dropped out of her studies after completing Class 9 at a government high school in the village and stayed at home. Velmurugan came into contact with the minor girl through a fake mobile phone call. He started calling the girl frequently and developed a friendship with her. He convinced her to marry him to live a life of wealth and escape from her house.

Her father lodged a complaint with the Sankarapuram police after the girl left her house on April 26. Police launched a hunt for the girl and traced her to Velmurugan’s house. The investigation revealed that the visually impaired man had married the underage girl and sexually abused her several times in the last two weeks.

The police have booked him under Sections 366-A (procurement of a minor girl) and 344 (wrongful imprisonment for 10 or more days) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 5 (aggravated penetrative sexual assault) and 6 (punishment for aggravated penetrative sexual assault). ) charged him with violating the Protection of Children from Sexual Offenses (Pocso) Act, 2012 and Section 9 (punishment for male adult who marries a child) of the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act, 2006 and arrested him.