Paravoor sex scandal: Trial to begin on June 8

KOCHI: The trial in the sensational Paravoor sex scandal, in which a 14-year-oldgirl was allegedly raped by at least 100 men over a period of time, will begin on June 8 before the Ernakulam Additional Sessions Court.
The first accused Sudheer, father of the victim, will be examined in the first phaseof the trial. The Crime Branch had earlier filed a chargesheet against Sudheer under section 376 (rape) of IPC, section 25 of the Juvenile Justice Act and IPC 506 (criminal intimidation).
Sessions Judge P G Ajith Kumar will examine 48 witnesses during the trial. In all 102 accused have been arrested in the case. The police had filed a chargesheet against the 62 accused.
The case came to light when a complaint was lodged last June after the girl narrated her ordeal to her aunt.
In the complaint the girl had alleged that her father, who used to do insignificant roles in Malayalam films, was the first to rape her.
He then took her to various places and offered her to as many as 100 men. Businessmen, a retired  Naval official and a PWD contractor from Tamil Nadu are among the accused.
Sudheer used to take the girl, who was in Class X then, away with him for days, telling her teachers that she had urinary problems and hence could not attend school.
According to the deposition of the victim, the first incident took place in 2010. Sudheer took her to a hotel in Ernakulam on May 3, 2010, on the pretext of an interview for a role in a film. Shewas presented to a man who sexually abused her. After a week, she was taken to many apartments in and around Ernakulam.
She was sexually abused in houses and hotels in Kadavanthra, Palarivattom, Thammanam, Kakkanad, Chalakudy, Athirappilly, Munnar, Thrissur, Mapranam, Parassala, Thiruvananthapuram, Kannur, Bangalore, Mysore, Chennai, Ootty and Coimbatore.