Two others of molestation; accused is nabbed swiftly; offered chocolates to lure unsuspecting victims
MARGAO: In a shocking incident that has triggered outrage, four girl students of a government primary school in Margao have complained that two of them were sexually assaulted and two were molested by a 33-year-old man near the railway footbridge at the Margao railway station.
The accused, Venkappa Kundri, a native of Gokak-Karnataka has been arrested by the Konkan Railway Police under the Goa Children’s Act and under various sections of IPC. All the four girls were sent for medical examination at the Goa Medical College and Hospital, Bambolim on late Saturday evening.
The sexual assault had occurred on January 23 at around 12.45 pm when the two girls, aged nine and seven years, were heading home after school. The accused, police said, who used to loiter at the railway footbridge at the Margao railway station, had lured the two minors, by offering chocolates and took them into the bushes on the Aquem side of the footbridge. Incidentally, the footbridge is right in front of the Konkan Railway police station.
The girls, hailing from the southern side of the railway tracks, have been using the footbridge, since they were studying in a school on the northern side of the tracks at Aquem.
DySP Konkan Railway police station, Sammy Tavares said the accused was identified by the two girls (the sexually assaulted ones) when they spotted the accused standing near the footbridge on Saturday. He was immediately nabbed by a relative of one of the girls and later handed over to the police. He said the accused was working as a labourer in the Gandhi market area and used to stay around the old Margao railway station area.
While DySP Tavares said the police have registered a case under the Goa Children’s Act based on a complaint, women activist Auda Viegas said that another two school girls have complained of molestation by the same accused.
Viegas, who was accompanying the four girls to the GMC, told Herald that the modus operandi adopted by the accused was similar to that of the Vasco case. “The accused offered the girls chocolates and lured them into the bushes. We are investigating whether the chocolates were laced with any substance since the girls have complained of drowsiness,” she said.
Replying to a question, Viegas said that the four girls were studying in Std I-IV in the government primary school.
Konkan Railway Police Station in-charge Police Inspector Vincy Paes said that the molestation of two girls occurred over a period of time.
Police said that though the two girls have alleged rape, they would register a case of rape only after receiving the medical report.
Incidentally, the railway foot bridge at the old Margao railway station was in the news a week ago when a minor boy was sodomised by three accused at the footbridge at the Old Margao Railway station.
