CHENNAI: The Kancheepuram police on Monday said they have detained two suspects in the April 2 rape of a German tourist at Mamallapuram. The suspects’ photographs have been sent to the German Embassy officials in Delhi who forwarded them to the rape survivor in Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh and she has confirmed that one of them was among her assailants, a senior officer said.
“We have asked the woman to come to Chennai to identify the detained men. The German Embassy officials in Delhi have also promised to cooperate in the investigation process,” said the officer. He, however, refused to divulge more information about the names of the suspects. The victim’s visa expired on April 4.
It has been a challenging case, said the officer. There was almost no clue left by the suspects at the place where the tourist was dragged into a casuarina grove. “No CCTV camera, no witness and little evidence. However, we managed to make the breakthrough with the help of the mobile tracking system,” he said.
“It is a tedious process, but we are calling every possible suspect to the police station for questioning,” said a police officer.
From April 2, Kancheepuram district superintendent of police Santhosh Haidmeni had been camping at Mamallapuram police station and at least 10 inspectors were looking into all possible angles.
One team was assigned to track the 400 calls the mobile phone tower in Pattipulam recorded from 9am to 11am on April 2. All the team members had a copy of the suspect’s sketch. “We verified the address of each caller and asked why they were in the Pattipulam area on April 2? As we eliminated the list, we narrowed down at least 50 of which about 10 kept their mobiles switched off. Police teams went in search for them after tracking their address and narrowed down on the suspects,” said the police officer.
The victim was part of a 12-member group of three families touring the country. On April 2, around 8am, three of the group members were having a ‘sunbath’ when the victim decided to walk around. She apparently walked too far beyond the private beach area when she was dragged into a casuarina grove and was sexually assaulted, police said. She later returned to the resort and informed her friends who alerted police.
