Daijiworld Media Network – Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Nov 4: The first additional sessions court here has found a bus conductor named Abdul Salim, responsible for the suicide of a 15-year-old girl from Elinje village near Mulky on February 10, 2009.

Salim was accused of seducing Ashwini Kumari (15), a ninth standard student from Elinje, who used to frequently travel in his bus to school, and then leading her to Basti in Gundya near Beltangady and raping her there. He had later been nabbed by the members of general public, who handed him over to the Moodbidri police station along with the girl. The then sub-inspector of police, Bharati, had entrusted custody of the girl back to her family. The girl, frustrated at being used for sexual activities, had committed suicide at her home the next day.

Abdul Salim’s quantum of sentence will be announced on Thursday November 4 by the court. The investigation of the case had been  led by the then Mulky circle police inspector, P A Hegde, and sub-inspector, M Sudarshan. Public prosecutor, Manjunath Bhat, had appeared on behalf of the prosecution in the case.