Suryanelli rape case: Dharmarajan to serve life imprisonment

Dharmarajan, the third accused in the Suryanelli sex abuse case, who had been absconding after jumping bail in 2005, was arrested on Friday and has now been asked to serve life term by a Kottayam court in Kerala today, says this NDTV report after he was produced in a Special Court this morning. He will be shifted to Poojappura Central Jail, in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday where he will undergo life imprisonment. Dharmarajan, a layer, was arrested by a five-member special team of Kerala Police from  a lodge near Sagar in Karnataka. According to The Week, the investigation was  code-named ‘Operation Sunrise’ and was supervised by Kottayam District police chief, C.Rajagopal. The probe  was initiated after warrant issued by the court against Dharmarajan on a petition filed by Ponkunnam CI, Rajkumar. The case pertains to the alleged abduction and rape of a 16-year-old from Suryanelli in Idukki district in 1996. She was forcibly taken to different places and allegedly raped by several men. A special court which tried the case had in 2002 sentenced Dharmarajan to life imprisonment and 35 others to varying terms. The High Court, however, acquitted the 35 people while remitting the life sentence of Dharmarajan to five years in 2005. He secured bail to file an appeal the same year but has been absconding since then. But with the  cancellation of the HC order acquitting the other 35 accused, even his sentence of five years stands cancelled. (The now nullified HC order had reduced the life term given to him by the magistrate court and acquitted the other 35 who had been given different jail terms). This implies his original life sentence by the magistrate court will now be active. Speaking to a Malayalam TV channel from undisclosed location a few days ago, Dharmarajan, who has gone into hiding after jumping bail, had alleged that Kurien was involved in the case as charged by the victim. [caption id=“attachment_627840” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] The latest attempt in the search came after Dharmarajan gave an interview to a TV channel wherein he had “revealed” that he had taken Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman P.J. Kurien to Kumily on the day when the latter had allegedly sexually assaulted the Surynelli girl at the Kumily Rest House. Representative Image[/caption] After that, the special team of police personnel from Kottyam was set up to trace and arrest Dharmarajan, who had claimed in the TV interview that he was speaking from somewhere near Mysore.   Kurien is not part of the 35 accused but the victim had filed a private complaint later accusing him also of involvement in the sexual assault. However, Supreme Court had allowed a discharge petition by Kurien. His name figured again in connection with the case recently after the victim wrote to her advocate to explore the possibility of filing a review petition in the Supreme Court, seeking a fresh probe against him. Kurien has maintained he has been cleared of the charges by the apex court. Dharmarajan had claimed that the principal investigator in the case had pressured him not to mention about Kurien’s involvement in the case. Kurien, however, rubbished Dharmarajan’s charge, holding that the statement of a convict has no legal validity. With PTI inputs