A 48-year-old man who runs a shop in Chennai's Kilpauk has been arrested for raping five minor girls, between the age groups of 4 and 13, the police said on Monday. Two women, aged, 28 and 30, too have been arrested for allowing him to rape their daughters.
Police had conducted raids on the shop of Perumal after a tip-off that he was selling banned gutka products. During the raid, police got hold of his mobile phone to get details of those who supply gutka to him. While checking the phone's photo gallery, the police found more than 50 videos of minor girls being raped. On initial investigation, the police team thought that he had downloaded child porn videos but on close scrutiny, it was found that Perumal himself was the person who was indulging in the act.
A police team, headed by Deputy Commissioner of Police, Kilpauk, Karthikeyan, and Inspector Rajeshwari, interrogated Perumal who revealed that he was raping the minor girls for the past six months. He also claimed that two women, who were sisters, were his accomplices in the act and that they had even let him rape their own daughters. Perumal said that one of the women had an affair with him and she introduced her sister also to him.
"There is no evidence so far to suggest that both the women were forced to send their children to him. The women were having an affair with the man. One of the videos has one of the women, her child and the man in it," Karthikeyan told TNM. Karthikeyan said that the women allowed Perumal rape their daughters as payment for goods they bought from his shop. According to him, the women would be given grocery items and other products for free from Perumal's store and Rs 1500-Rs 2000 each time they sent the children to him. The police is still investigating the case to learn how many children have been abused by the man.
Perumal filmed the sexual act he had indulged with the two minor girls as also three other girls who were their friends. The three girls, according to police, were too young to know what had happened to them.
The parents of the three other girls told police that the two women used to take care of their daughters when they were going to work.
Perumal and the two women are in judicial custody with the women lodged in Puzhal central prison and Perumal was sent to Chengalpet sub-jail.
The three accused have been booked under various sections of the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act, the Indian Penal code including section 376 and the Information Technology Act.