35 found guilty in Suryanelli case, four acquitted

KOTTAYAM, SEPT 2: Thirty-five of the 39 accused in the sensational Suryanelli sex scandal case -- relating to the abduction and sexual exp...

KOTTAYAM, SEPT 2: Thirty-five of the 39 accused in the sensational Suryanelli sex scandal case 8212; relating to the abduction and sexual exploitation of a minor school girl in 1996 8212; were pronounced guilty by the special trial court here today.

Special court judge M. Sasidharan Nambiar acquitted four of the accusedand remanded the rest to custody till September 6, when the sentence will be pronounced. Those convicted included three women. They were found guilty under various sections of the Indian Penal code including 120 B Conspiracy, 376 G Mass Rape and 376 Rape.

The name of former Union minister and Congress I leader Prof P.J. Kurian did not not figure in the chargesheet.

In May 1999, the Peerumade first class judicial magistrate court had issued a direction to file a chargesheet against Prof Kurian on the basis of a private complaint filed by the victim. Accused Prof Jacob Mathew, Joshi Mathew, Ajay Kumar and S. Mathew are those found not guilty.

Section 376 G of the IPC has provisions to attract life imprisonment or imprisonment up to 10 years, with fine. The trial of the two absconding accused, advocate Dharmarajan and Elite Devasia, is yet to be carried out. However, on the basis of adduced evidence, they have been declared guilty of various crimes.

Those found guilty include Raju, the bus conductor who enticed schoolgirl G Usha;, P.K. Jamal, N.G. Reji, Cherian Mathew, M. Unnikrishnan Nair, advocate Jose Nedumthakidiyel, S. Sreekumar, Rajendran Nair, Jacob Stephen, H. Aji, R. Satheesan, S. Aliyar, N. Mohammed Yusuf, A. Dawood, Thulaseedharan, Mohanan alias Ayyavu, N. Rajagopalan Nair, Mathew Joseph, P. Sreekumar, Sunny George, Gigi Kuruvila, V. Joseph, R. Babu, Y. Varghese, George Cherian, N. Vijayakumar, Ashraf, Antony alias Baji, S. Shaji, T. Anil, Babu Mathew, K. Thankappan, Mary alias Ammini and Vilasini.

Among them, second accused Usha is the wife of Mohanan alias Ayyavu. Jacob Stephen had to quit his membership in the district panchayat after the scandal broke. He is presently the president of the district agricultural development bank. George Cherian was a former MG University union chairman and student dean. N. Vijayakumar was commercial inspector in the Railways here. Rajendran Nair was personal assistant to Vijayakumar.

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The incident leading to the crime occurred on January 16, 1996, when the victim, an 8th standard student in Nallathanni, was abducted by bus conductor Raju. She was subsequently kept in illegal custody in places like Kottayam, Ernakulam, Kumali, Palakkad, Vanimel, Kambam, Theni, Kanyakumari, Thiruvananthapuram, Kuravilangad, Aluva and Muvattupuzha, and subjected to sexual harassment up to February 16. The girl was set free in Idukki after 42 days in custody.