Neighbour among 2 detained for rape, murder of Kerala Dalit law student

Kochi: Two suspects have been taken into custody by the Kerala police in connection with the rape and brutal murder of a 30-year-old Dalit law student near Perumbavoor even as Chief Minister Oommen Chandy described the crime as "shocking" and said the culprits will be brought to book.

Police said one of the detained suspects is a neighbour of the woman and the two are being questioned by a team, headed by Ernakulam Range IG Mahipal Yadav. However, it was not yet known whether they are the real culprits. No details of the ongoing investigation has been revealed by police.

Police said the post-mortem report revealed that the woman was subjected to rape and brutal assault using sharp edged weapons before being murdered at her house on April 28.

Read: Dalit law student raped in poll-bound Kerala

The girl had completed her LLB despite hailing from a poor family. Her house was built in a two-cent ‘purambokku’ land and her father had abandoned her when she was a child. She was brutally raped and murdered on the lines of the Nirbhaya case. She was found dead in a pool of blood at 8 pm that day by her mother when she reached home from work. Her distraught mother, who was bedridden after the incident, has now been hospitalised.

"Kerala is shocked by the brutal murder of a young woman. The culprits will be brought to book and the severest punishment will be ensured to those who involved into the incident," Chandy said. It is the first such incident to be reported in the state.

Read: Kerala rape: Hand over probe to crime branch, says Human Rights commission

Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala has left for Perumbavoor from his constituency Harippad in Alappuzha to visit the victim's mother. The brutal murder has shocked the state, with women activists and students taking to the streets, demanding justice for the woman.

Soon after details of the murder came to light, CPI(M) had attacked the state government for the "inaction" in the case. "Police have failed to get any lead about the culprits even five days after the incident," CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan had said on Monday.

Rejecting the charge, Chennithala had said a "scientific" probe was on into the incident and asserted that the culprits would be brought to book. Police have launched a rigorous manhunt to nab the culprits.