Three held in Manipal gang-rape case

 Nearly a week after a medical student was sexually assaulted in Manipal, the Udupi police detained three people, including two autorickshaw drivers, on Thursday.

The police, who were groping in the dark for clues, were surprised when one of the accused called the IGP (Western Range) in the morning and admitted to the crime. The accused also  said he was committing suicide fearing detention.

The police have detained Yogesh Poojary (30), an autorickshaw  driver from Ontibettu,  Hariprasad Poojary (27) also a  three-wheeler driver from Badagabettu,  and Anand (28). The three will be interrogated and produced before a court. IGP (Western Range) Pratap Reddy told reporters that two of the suspects had attempted suicide and “are in the ICU at KMC Hospital.” Their condition is stated to be out of danger.

Giving details, Reddy and Superintendent of Police MB Boralingaiah said Yogesh called him around 10:30 am and said that he had raped the girl and was committing suicide fearing arrest.

Realising that the call was from a hilly area and the caller was walking down the hill, the IG asked the police around nearby Hiriyadka-Athradi to trace him and take him to custody. On his information, two others were arrested. Hariprasad was detained near Parkala.

The third suspect was picked from his sister’s place in Gadagabettu where he allegedly attempted to hang himself after consuming some pills.  Anand worked as a driver and sometimes as a casual labour. A rioting case had been booked against Yogesh before 2005 while two others have no  cases against them. All the three have admitted to committing the crime.

Reddy said the police had checked the autorickshaw a couple of days but could not identify it as it did not match the details available with them. Their information was that it had a Ganesha idol but the one they saw had a Radha-Krishna idol.

Even the sketch released by the police did not match with any of the suspects. Also, the details given by the victim and the suspects on the crime spot were not the same.
The police have to reconstruct the scene and conduct the investigation.
He hoped that the victim would cooperate with the investigation and recognise the suspects during the identification parade.

The three were drunk when they committed the offence on the night of June 20 when the fourth year MBBS student from Kerala was returning to her paying guest accommodation.