Accused is a handyman employed by the private secretary of Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine
Accused is a handyman employed by the private secretary of Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine
The City police on Wednesday claimed to have arrested the elusive attacker who attempted to waylay an early morning walker, a woman doctor, outside the Museum premises last week.
They identified the accused as Santosh, a handyman employed by the private secretary of Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine.
A seemingly disconcerted Mr. Augustine ordered his staff member to dismiss the suspect from service. The police were investigating whether the episode was an opportunistic sex crime. Investigators have linked the suspect to other night-time intrusions in residential neighbourhoods in the city. An official said a video analysis of the footage captured by a camera inside the Museum grounds helped the police identify the vehicle used by the assailant. The Kerala Water Authority (KWA) owned the car used by the accused.
The accused has denied the charges. He told television reporters that the police had brow-beaten him into confessing the offence by threatening to implicate his wife in the crime.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan said the government was responsible for State-owned vehicles being used for criminal purposes. He asked why Mr. Augustine’s office could not identify the accused despite the police releasing a facial composite of the suspect last week. “It is a very puzzling question that requires an answer,” he said.
Museum and nearby Kanakakkunnu grounds are much-patronised jogging circuits in the capital, frequented by many outdoor physical exercise seekers in the mornings and evenings. The expansive grounds are open to the public well into the night.
The attack triggered a sense of insecurity among citizens and soon became a symbol of questionable police response to distress callers. The woman said the attack occurred at 4.45 a.m. She reported the matter to the nearby Museum police station immediately. However, the officer on duty allegedly told the complainant they were low on personnel and asked her to turn up at the station at 8.30 a.m.
The incident also highlighted how dysfunctional police surveillance cameras along the arterial stretch had blindsided law enforcement. The surveillance vacuum and seemingly scaled-down police deployment at night have spawned a sense of vulnerability among residents, especially women and also children travelling without an adult escort.
Law enforcement’s apparent lack of real-time situational awareness due to the lack of an operational surveillance network is reportedly impeding its response to emergency callers.
