Cops trap man in rape case

Alappuzha: A youth here was mentally tortured by the police for four years by fabricating a rape case against him and extracting money from him for a crime he did not commit. Lineesh Liyakath, 27, of Labeeba Manzil, Thekkevila here, who spent 44 days in jail, was exonerated from the case by the Kollam Sessions Court on November 28, 2015.  The court found that the allegations against him were false and that even the complainant had not identified him in the court. He plans to approach the Human Rights Commission seeking action against the cops concerned.

Lineesh was falsely implicated in a case registered with the Chathannoor police station that a woman was kidnapped and raped in a car driven by Lineesh on June 4, 2012. “I was in Bangalore at that time as I work in a construction field. A man who used to clean our car took the vehicle for a wash from my house in Thekkevila on May 31, 2012. He is the first accused in the case that is said to have taken place in my car. The then Chathannoor CI Anil Kumar started taking money from me by threatening that he would include me in the accused list as I was the registered owner of the car.  I gave '50,000 in bribe to a shop owner in Chathannoor as per the officer’s direction,” Lineesh told DC.

The officer, according to Lineesh, included him in the accused list after he refused to give more money. “I pleaded with the officer to check with the woman whether I was involved in the crime. Instead, he arrested me from Chathannoor bus stand on May 31, 2013 and recorded that I was captured from the railway station based on a secret tip-off. Meanwhile, Chathannoor SI Ashokan took a bribe of Rs 25,000 from my father,” he said.