Ex-Pocso convict rapes, murders minor girl in Tamil Nadu

A 32-year-old man was arrested in Sivaganga district of Tamil Nadu on Oct 26 on the charges of raping and murdering a 13-year-old girl from Madurai, police said.

The accused G Sathishkumar of Kattanikulam in Sivaganga, a prematurely released convict in a 2014 Pocso case in Theni district, dumped a minor girl’s body in a well in Sivaganga district after rape-murder.

Sathishkumar had befriended the girl at the Government Rajaji Hospital (GRH) in Madurai where his wife was admitted for delivery.

Sathishkumar allegedly murdered the girl to prevent her from reporting the sexual assault to the police as the statement of the survivor in the 2014 case had led to his conviction, according to police.

The incident came to light on Oct 24 when the body of an unidentified girl was found inside a well at Kalkulam near Sivaganga.
Fire and rescue services personnel retrieved the body of the girl, with one arm fractured, and sent it to Sivagangai Government Medical College Hospital. Subsequently, police registered a case of suspicious death.

Upon receiving information about a missing persons case filed in Madurai city limits, a special team of police found that the girl was the second daughter of a woman who was recently admitted to GRH.

The accused took the girl to the crime scene on Oct 23 and sexually assaulted and murdered her. The police have now altered the case to sexual assault and murder.

In the 2014 case, Sathishkumar was convicted to 11 years of rigorous imprisonment for the sexual assault of a minor from the Theni district under the Pocso – Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. The girl’s statement served as a critical piece of evidence. But Sathishkumar got a premature release after eight years, police said.