Chennai: Police officials booked a 48-year-old shopkeeper who was arrested for selling illegal tobacco products, under multiple sections of POCSO Act after police found videos of him sexually abusing children on his mobile phone. The accused had allegedly assaulted at least five minor girls.
According to a report from the New Indian Express, the accused has been identified as Perumal and he had assaulted at least five girls aged between four and 13 years over a period of time. Police also arrested two women under various sections of POCSO for allowing the accused to sexually abuse their own daughters for money.
Quoting a source, the report said that TP Chatram all-women police officials led by inspector E Rajeswari raided the accused’s shop on Saturday based on a tip-off that he has been selling illegal tobacco products. During the raid, they had seized sachets of gutka and his mobile phone to identify the source of the gutka.
An investigating officer of the case, according to the report, said that they had found at least 50 videos on his mobile phone. The police initially thought that the videos were downloaded from the internet, but a closer examination revealed that the man in the videos was Perumal himself and the victims were children, said the official according to the report.
Quoting Assistant Commissioner of Police (Kilpauk) K Ramesh, the report said that the accused had claimed that the girls were sent by their mothers to prevent him from charging for the items purchased at his shop and the assault took place in their presence at their houses.
Police have identified at least three other children assaulted by the accused, the report said and added that all three accused were produced before the magistrate and remanded to judicial custody.