In a shocking incident of inhuman sexual assault in Kerala, a 90-year-old woman was allegedly raped brutally at Kandiyoor, Mavelikkara in Alappuzha district on Wednesday night even as two more Catholic nuns, accused in the sensational case of rape and impregnation of a 16-year-old girl by 48-year-old Syro-Malabar Catholic priest Fr Robin Vadakkumchery in Kottiyoor, Kannur district surrendered before the investigating officer on Thursday morning.

The nonagenarian rape victim of Kandiyoor was admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital in Alappuzha with serious injuries in the face and private parts. One person, said to be owner of a mobile phone recovered from the crime scene, was taken into custody but the police were not certain about his role as he kept claiming that he was not its owner.

The elderly woman, who was living in her house at Kandiyoor with her daughter, was subjected to the inhuman sexual assault when she was alone at home after her daughter had gone for the festival at the Bhagavati Temple at Chettikkulangara, about seven kilometres away. The incident came to light when the daughter returned home after the festival on Thursday morning.

Though she was first taken to the Government Hospital in Mavelikkara, she was shifted to the Medical College Hospital after her condition continued to remain worse. The police had not been able to record the statement of the victim because of her unstable health condition. Several elderly women and minor girls had suffered sexual assault in Kerala in the recent past.

Meanwhile, two more Catholic nuns accused in the case pertaining to the rape and impregnation of a 16-year-old girl by the Vicar of a parish church in Kannur surrendered before N Sunil Kumar, Circle Inspector of Police, Peravoor, Kannur. The victim, a Plus 1 student of a Church-run school where her tormentor was manager, had given birth to a baby boy on February 7.

Nuns Sr liz Maria of the Christudasi Convent at Thonichal in Wayanad and Sr Aneetta George of the Christudasi Convent at Kallumutty, Iritti in Kannur who surrendered on Thursday are respectively the sixth and seventh accused in the case. Among the ten accused in the case, six are Catholic nuns, including a gynecologist of the hospital where the victim had delivered the baby.

The others include a senior priest, former Wayanad Child Welfare Committee chairman Fr Thomas Joseph Therakam, Dr Hyderali, pediatrician of the hospital where the girl had delivered her baby, and Thankamma, a close aide of Fr Robin at his church. Sr liz Maria who surrendered on Thursday is the daughter of Thankamma, second accused.

With the two nuns surrendering on Thursday, the arrest of all the ten accused had been recorded. The Peravoor police had arrested Fr Robin, Vicar of the St Sebastian’s Church in Kottiyoor, on February 27 from Chalakudy in Thrissur district as he was preparing to flee to Canada through the Kochi airport.

A court in Kannur on Thursday posted his bail plea to Saturday for hearing.

At the same time, an allegation of sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl, a Class 9 student, has come up from Mukkom, Kozhikode. Though a complaint was filed on this two weeks back, the police had reportedly failed to take action. In Chavara, Kollam, the police took into custody a 42-year-old man for sexually assaulting a ten-year-old girl in his neighbourhood.