IT professional raped in resort; search on for culprits

Thiruvananthapuram: A 40-year old woman IT professional from Bangalore was allegedly raped at a backwater island resort near here and police are on the lookout for two persons involved in the incident. The woman had come to the star category resort at Pozhiyur, about 30 km from here, with a group of colleagues as part of an official trip and she was allegedly assaulted by two persons in the wee hours on November 28, police said. According to her complaint with police, two unidentified persons entered her room at around 2.30 AM. While one of them restrained her, the other man raped her. The woman suffered injuries during the assault and was in a traumatised state after the incident. She made a complaint to the police the next evening. Police have registered a case of rape on the basis of the victim`s statement. She has left for Bangalore. Forensic evidence collected from the room had been sent for analysis and phone call details of the guests at the resort at the time of the crime and the staff members were being verified, an Inspector, part of the investigating team, said. The resort is under surveillance and the staff members had been questioned. CPI(M) leader V S Achuthanandan asked the state government to institute a criminal inquiry into the incident. In a statement here today, he demanded that the owner of the resort also be brought under the ambit of the probe for rendering the premises insecure for women despite the star-category status it holds.