The main accused in the disturbing case of a schoolgirl's alleged rape and the sex abuse of several others at a fake National Cadet Corps (NCC) camp in Tamil Nadu allegedly died by suicide at a government hospital early this morning.
Sivaraman, who had been accused of sexually assaulting a class 8 girl, and harassing 12 students, consumed poison at 5.15 am, hours before his arrest, police officers said.
"He had consumed poison before the arrest and we have recorded it. Based on medical advice, we shifted him from Krishnagiri to Salem for specialised treatment," said District Superintendent of Police Thangaraj.
Neither the family of the accused nor his lawyer have commented till now.
Eleven people have been arrested under the stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act since the fake NCC camp case emerged. Two teachers, the principal, and a correspondent of the private school where the incident took place are among those arrested.
The school had failed to conduct background checks and deploy teachers to supervise the so-called camp. The school had allegedly agreed to the camp to try and qualify for their own NCC unit within the school campus, based on the claims of a group that approached them. The school authorities have also been accused of attempting to cover up the incident, asking the students to not take the alleged abuse seriously.
While the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has directed the police to accelerate the investigation and file a charge sheet within 60 days, a Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe is now underway to investigate if the fake trainers had committed sexual offences in camps at other schools.
The student who was allegedly sexually assaulted told her parents, who reported the crime to the police.
