Five accused in Kiliroor sex scandal get 10 years in jail
They are also fined for their role in kidnapping and raping a minor
Thiruvananthapuram: The special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday sentenced five accused in the sensational Kiliroor sex scandal case for ten years of rigorous imprisonment and imposed varying amounts of fines on them.
Judge T.S.P. Moosath ordered three accused Manoj, Prasanth and Praveen to pay a fine of Rs35,000 (Dh2,595) each. Latha Nair was fined Rs10,000 and Kochumon (Binu) Rs45,000. The accused are in their late twenties and mid-thirties.
The court directed that the fine amount be paid to the victim's child.
The court found that the accused were guilty of various charges under the Indian Penal Code including kidnapping, raping and conspiracy and they were convicted on Monday.
Soman, the seventh accused, was acquitted for lack of evidence. Another accused Omanakutty had turned approver.
The case rocked the state's Communist Party of India-Marxists (CPM) as the then chief minister and the party veteran V.S. Achuthanandan alleged that after the visit of some VVIPs to the hospital, where the minor girl had been fighting a post-delivery complication, her condition worsened. It was clear that he was aiming at some of his rivals in his own party.
The CBI investigation found that Omankutty introduced her sister's daughter, Sari S. Nair, a minor girl, to Latha Nair who posed as a rich TV-serial producer on August 18, 2003. The two had taken the girl to various places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu including Thekkady and Palani promising roles in serials.
Manoj, Praveen and Prasanth, all conductors of the state-owned Kerala State Road Transport Corporation, and Kochumon gang raped her at these places.
When Sari complained about her predicament, Latha Nair brushed it aside by saying that all these were the requirements for becoming a famous actress.
Sari died on November 13, 2004, at a private hospital in Kottayam, while giving birth to a baby girl on August 15. She died of intestinal infection caused by high presence of copper in her blood.
Achuthanandan's allegation fizzled out during the trial of the case as the CBI submitted to the court that it could not collect any evidence that would corroborate the allegation.
The CPM leader later clarified that he disclosed what the doctor who treated the girl had told him.
