Trichy: A 26-year-old female school teacher has been arrested in Trichy on Thursday for allegedly 'eloping' with a 17-year-old Class 11 boy and marrying him. The teacher, Sharmila, has been arrested under the POCSO Act for abducting and marrying a minor. The boy has been handed over to his parents while Trichy Magistrate Court remanded the teacher to judicial custody.
The boy in Class 11 at a Thuraiyur school went missing on March 5 after returning from school. He went out to play and his parents were worried when he didn't return after several hours. Concerned parents lodged a complaint at Thuraiyur police station. Based on this, cops registered a case and started investigating. During the initial phase of the investigation, police learnt that one of the teachers from the school, 26-year-old Sharmila had also gone missing.
When the cops questioned Sharmila's mother regarding her disappearance, she said that her daughter used to talk for long hours with the boy and wouldn't stop talking with him over the phone. Based on the angle that both might have gone missing together, cops traced Sharmila's cell phone but the cell tower continued to change from Velankanni, Thiruvarur to Thanjavur and Trichy.
Finally, police went to Edamalapatti Puthur in Trichy, where the cell phone last pinged, and conducted a thorough investigation and found that the teacher was staying with the student at her friend's place. Sharmila also revealed that she had gotten 'married' to the minor boy at Tanjore temple. Police brought them back to the police station and handed over the student to his parents. Sharmila was produced before Tiruchy Magistrate Court, which remanded her to custody.
