In a major twist to the 2017 sensational Walayar rape case, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), in the supplementary chargesheet, arraigned the parents of two minor victims of rape in the chargesheet filed on Thursday at the Ernakulam CBI court.

According to reports, the parents have been charged with abetment of rape and suicide. As many as six chargesheets were filed before the Ernakulam CBI court in Kochi in the Walayar rape case. According to sources, in all six chargesheets, parents of the victims were arraigned as accused of abetting rape and not reporting the incident to the police. They were charged with offences under IPC and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

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The accused in the cases are Valiya Madhu, Shibu, Pradeep Kumar, and Kutti Madhu for the death of the elder girl. Similarly, Valiya Madhu, and a minor boy were accused of abetting the murder of the younger girl. Kutty Madhu was later found dead in a closed private factory in Binanipuram near Aluva in October 2013.

The CBI investigation found that parents deliberately concealed the facts that their daughters were raped by the accused persons. Similarly, the investigation agency also found that accused persons abeted the rape.

In 2019, a special POCSO court acquitted all the four persons, stating that the prosecution’s case was weak. This led to multiple protests condemning the police. Following this, the state moved an appeal at the Kerala High Court seeking a re-investigation. Subsequently, the High Court set aside the acquittal of the accused. Meanwhile, in November 2020, Pradeep Kumar died allegedly due to suicide.

In 2021, the HC directed the CBI to take up the case, and the investigation was taken up by the Thiruvananthapuram unit of CBI. The incident took place in 2017 when the two young siblings were found dead within two months in Walayar. The siblings were found hanging in the same fashion in a shed near their house. Walayar police had concluded that the girls were sexually abused for nearly a year until they were forced to end their lives.