The Special Investigation Team (SIT), supervised by R. Nishanthini, Inspector General, South Zone, has intensified its probe into the alleged sexual exploitation of a 16-year-old girl at a spa at Kovalam in Thiruvananthapuram, according to The Hindu. Police said the survivor, a native of Andhra Pradesh, was allegedly trafficked by her maternal aunt and the aunt's husband.

The accused couple was tracked down and arrested from Andhra Pradesh and has been remanded to judicial custody, and the SIT will soon move a custody application to interrogate them further. According to police, the survivor had initially been presented to the court with forged documents showing her age as 20, but officers grew suspicious, contacted the headmaster of the school she attended in Andhra Pradesh, and school records conclusively established that she is 16 years old.

Police brought the survivor to three locations, including the spa, on Tuesday to collect evidence under stringent measures to protect her privacy. The investigation took a turn with the arrest of Anuroop, a junior health inspector at the Ulloor section office of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, who was allegedly acting as the 'benami' operator of the spa where the survivor was primarily confined and abused, police said. Police officials said financial transactions, including Google Pay scanners linked to the spa, led directly to Anuroop's accounts, and that the spa premises were apparently leased out to him by an Ayurvedic doctor who owned the facility.

Malayalam channels Amrita News and 24 News also reported the health inspector's arrest. Kovalam police have registered an additional zero FIR over information that the minor was also allegedly subjected to abuse in other places, including Chennai, and have transferred that case to the Guduvanchery police in Chennai. Earlier reporting by The Times of India said the owners of two Kovalam spas were arrested on Sunday and are in judicial custody, and that a nine-member SIT was formed to collect details of visitors to the establishments. All allegations are as stated by police and remain under investigation. Sources: The Hindu; Amrita News; 24 News; The Times of India.