Police get three days’ custody of gang-rape accused

The All Women Police Station (West) on Monday got three days custody of P. Manikandan, 30, suspected to be the main accused in the gang-rape of a class XI girl in Coimbatore.

The Mahila Court-cum-Special Court for Children here granted police the custody of the accused who hails from Seeranaickenpalayam where he and five others allegedly gang-raped the minor girl outside a park on November 26. The men had also allegedly assaulted her male friend and photographed the acts.

A senior police officer said that Manikandan will be interrogated in custody to collect more details of the incident as he was never questioned.

While five other accused in the case namely, T. Rahul, 21, R. Prakash, 22, S. Karthikeyan, 28, S. Narayanamurthy, 30, R. Karthik, 24, were arrested by the police, Manikandan surrendered before the Mahila Court on December 3. Hence, the investigating team had not questioned him.

The police suspect that Manikandan played prime role in the crime.

The police will also examine his mobile phone to check presence of photo or video of the crime as the victim had told police that the accused photographed the acts.