One more person, a minor, has been arrested in the case related to the death of two sisters at Walayar in Palakkad.
Police nabbed the accused, a 17-year-old, who is a neighbour of the girl, on Tuesday afternoon. With this, the number of arrested in the case has reached five. The maternal relatives of the sisters, V Madhu of Kallankad and M Madhu alias Kutty Madhu, neighbour Pradeep Kumar and Shibu of Idukki are the other accused nabbed by the police in this case.
The mother of the two girls, 13-year old and 9-year old, has given a statement to the police that the elder girl was harassed many times by a relative. It was on March 4 that the younger girl was found hanging in their home. After three days of the death, police confirmed that the girl had been sexually abused. Her elder sister, a 13-year-old girl, was found dead under similar circumstances in January. Their dead bodies were found in the shed in which the family was living. The death of the nine-year-old was reported as a mirror death.
Both the kids were daughters of construction workers. The family was living there as their house was under construction at an adjacent plot. Police later confirmed that both the kids had been sexually abused. The investigating team in the case was reconstituted as there were lapses in probing the death of the elder sister. Sub Inspector of Kasaba police station, PC Chacko, was suspended on charges of dereliction of duty. He had investigated the death of the elder girl.
The sisters were found dead in a span of 52 days beginning January 12.