by Walter Jayawardhana

A six year old girl belonging to a Sri Lankan refugee camp at M.Mettaputti has been found raped and murdered and left in a concrete pipe in a culvert in Tamil Nadu.

Finally a pirated version of a DVD which the rapist accidentally dropped while engaging in the crime from his shirt pocket provided a a clue to the identification of the criminal.

An outraged crowd mobbed the hall where he was interrogated by the police and he had to be carried away to the police under heavy protection.

The Hindu which carried a news story said, ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-A compact DVD containing the pirated version of AjithƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s latest blockbuster ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”Billa 2ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢ helped the police crack a case of rape and murder of a six-year-old girl who lived in a refugee camp for Sri Lankan Tamils at M. Mettupatti here.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

Sri Lankan Tamil refugees mobbed the hall in which the rapist was interrogated by police at M.Mettupatti camp on Tuesday.

On Tuesday M. Sasidharan alias Kannan (24), a resident of the camp, was arrested on charges of rape and murder of the girl, whose body was found inside a cement concrete pipe of a culvert, less than a kilometre from the camp, on Sunday.

While searching for clues at this spot, the police team stumbled upon the DVD. They said that the DVD had fallen off SasidharanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s shirt when he was concealing the body in the culvert on Tiruchi Road.

While looking for further leads, some children in the camp told the police that they had given the DVD to Sasidharan on Sunday morning. When questioned, he confessed to the crime.

Scratch marks

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The police said that during questioning on Tuesday, they saw scratch marks on SasidharanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s chest, which he might have sustained while committing the crime.

Curiously, Sasidharan was part of a mob that attacked Karna (29), accusing him of having committed the murder. A police officer, quoting residents of the camp, said that Sasidharan had vowed to take revenge on the killers.

The girlƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s grandmother said that she did not suspect Sasidharan because the girl used to be very close to him, fondly calling him ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”¹…”annaƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢. The girlƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s father said that he suspected SasidharanƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ¢-¾‚¢s involvement.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚

Irate folks

ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ…-The police had a tough time keeping residents of the camp away from the hall where Sasidharan was being questioned. Some of them tried to enter the hall through the tiled roof to attack him.

Additional force had to be brought in to take Sasidharan away in a van.

Deputy Inspector General of Police, Salem Range, Sanjay Kumar, and Superintendent of Police M. Sathiya Priya were present.ƒÆ’‚¢ƒ¢-¡‚¬ƒ”š‚