Two months and over 400 enquiries later, the Kancheepuram police are yet to make a breakthrough in connection to the rape of a 24-year-old German woman in Mahaballipuram. The police are yet to even identify the men responsible for the sexual assault.
The German national had filed a complaint alleging that she was raped by unidentified men while holidaying in Mahaballipuram with a group of friends. The incident happened on April 1 this year. She was sleeping in a grove of casuarinas on the seashore off the East Coast Road, after taking a long walk. There were three men present when the incident took place, but only one of them allegedly assaulted her. The woman managed to escape from the clutches of her assaulters and went back to her group.
The German Embassy in Delhi was immediately contacted and they briefed the Tamil Nadu police, who alerted the station in Kancheepuram district. The survivor described her assaulter to the police, following which a sketch of the accused was released. Three suspects were detained for questioning and 4 special teams were formed to find the assailants.
"We have done close to 400 enquiries following the incident and are still investigating the case," says Kancheepuram SP Santosh.
The Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu) police have released a sketch of one the assailants who had allegedly sexually assaulted a German tourist. After three suspects were detained for questioning , 4 special teams have been formed to find the assailants, said Kanchipuram SP Santosh."We are searching based on the input given by the survivor. It is not much but as police we are trained to find such criminals," he adds.
The closest they got to an arrest was last week, according to the SP. "We had someone we were closely following but there were several hurdles," he admits. The police could not verify the location of the suspect at the time of the crime. Is the survivor not being in India, delaying the probe?
"No, we don't physically need her here. If we get some kind of a clue we contact her for further confirmation or questions. The real problem is that we cannot go full throttle because the the fishermen community is very touchy," explains the SP. "We are already being accused of harassing them," he adds.
The sexual assault case gained national attention after it was reported by publications and news channels across the country.