A 25-year-old man who was arrested recently on charges of raping and murdering a minor girl at Embal village in Pudukottai district allegedly escaped on Thursday from the Pudukottai Medical College Hospital where he was admitted for conducting medical tests.
A hunt has been launched by the police across the district to nab the accused, M. Raja, of Embal village.
Police sources said Raja, who was lodged in the Pudukottai District Jail on July 3 following his arrest, was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday evening for medical tests. Two police constables were posted on escort duty. The sources said Raja reportedly told the escort police that he wanted to go to the toilet and escaped thereafter from the hospital premises.
The constables searched for him within the hospital premises in vain following which an alert was sounded to the district police authorities.
Four Deputy Superintendents of Police, an Additional Superintendent of Police and five Inspectors, along with their teams, were conducting searches within the hospital premises and in its vicinity including Karayampatti and Thenna Thirayanpatti villages.
Pudukottai Superintendent of Police L. Balaji Saravanan supervised the operation, the sources said.
A drone fitted with camera was used by the police as part of the search operation.
The minor girl, who was a class II student went missing on June 30 and her body with injuries was found later on a 'oorani' a few metres away from the victim’s house. It was established in the post mortem that the girl was raped and murdered following which the police conducted a detailed probe and arrested Raja of the same village.
The Embal police had altered the case and booked Raja under IPC sections, including 364 (kidnapping or abducting in order to murder), 376 (rape) and 302 (murder) read with Sections 5 (m), 5 (j) (iv) read with 6 (1) of the POCSO Act and Section 3 (2) (v) of the SC/ST Act.
