Coimbatore:
The bodies of seven-year-old Rithik and his 10-year-old sister were cremated in Coimbatore today. Both were kidnapped and killed by a man who used to drive a private van that took them to school until two months ago.
The sister's body was found in a river outside Coimbatore on Saturday and today the parents learnt that Rithik, dumped in the river along with his sister, hadn't survived either.
But there was more bad news for the parents. The girl's post-mortem report revealed on Sunday that she had also been sexually assaulted.
The driver is already in custody and has confessed to kidnapping the children for ransom to repay a loan. But the police say he couldn't find a phone booth to call the children's family.
He got nervous and threw the children into the water. He was helped by a friend who has also been arrested now.
"Medical report says she was sexually assaulted. We have arrested his friend now who has been all along with him - from kidnap to the sexual assault and throwing them into the water later," said Sylendra Babu, Commissioner of Police, Coimbatore.
Police say this tragedy ought to be an eye opener for parents to realise the danger in engaging private vehicles to take children to school; they want parents and schools to inform them immediately when children go missing. In this case they were alerted after three hours, giving enough time for perpetrators to flee the city.