Senior police officers at the crime scene abutting Kannampalayam tank near Sulur in Coimbatore district on May 23, 2026. Photo: Special Arrangement
The Coimbatore District Police, on Wednesday (June 10, 2026), filed the charge sheet against the two persons arrested for the abduction, sexual assault and murder of a 10-year-old girl near Sulur on May 21.
The investigating team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police Karikal Pari Shankar submitted the 819-page chargesheet, which has 104 prosecution witnesses and 215 documents, before the Special Court for the trial of cases registered under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. It was e-filed on Tuesday.
The first accused K. Karthi (35) of Pallapalayam near Sulur has been charged for offences under Sections 61(2)(a), 140(1), 140(4), 103(1), 238(a), 127(2), 65(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and 5(i), 5(l), 5(m), 5(j-4) read with 6(1) of POCSO Act.
His accomplice R. Mohan, 31, of Pallapalayam has been charged under Sections 61(2)(a), 140(1), 140(4) read with 49, 238(a), 240, and 249(a) of the BNS, and 6(1) read with 16 and 17 of POCSO Act.
The investigating team took a relatively short 18 days to file the charge sheet after the arrest of the two accused.
“The wilful cooperation from all witnesses was certainly an important factor for the speedy completion of the investigation,” said Inspector-General of Police (West Zone) R.V. Ramya Bharathi, who supervised the investigation along with Deputy IGP (Coimbatore Range) P. Saminathan and Coimbatore district’s Superintendent of Police A. Pavan Kumar Reddy.
Karthi was subjected to DNA profiling and a potency test during the investigation. Cyber forensic analyses were conducted to affirm his presence in the girl’s neighbourhood at the time of the abduction and later at the crime scene – a thicket in a private land abutting the northern bund of Kannampalayam tank near Sulur.
Cyber analyses were also done to confirm Karthi’s communication with Mohan before and after the commission of the crime. Though Mohan had knowledge of the crime, he failed to disclose it to anyone and misled the police when officers questioned him.
On the day of crime
According to the police, Karthi abducted the girl known to him from her neighbourhood at Pallapalayam on May 21 evening by promising to buy her chocolates. He took her to the private land abutting Kannampalayam tank on a motorcycle and murdered her after sexually assaulting her.
Sources added that blunt force trauma and cumulative effects of injuries sustained to neck and chest were the causes of death as per post-mortem findings. The accused were arrested in the early hours of May 23.
Published – June 10, 2026 03:56 pm IST
