
The Puducherry police are searching for Thiagu, a photographer accused of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl at a hotel in Puducherry in August. A zero FIR was registered by the Royapuram all-women police in Chennai under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act and transferred to Puducherry for investigation.

A police team from Puducherry visited Chennai on Friday, 16 October 2026, to trace the accused but could not find him in Royapuram. The case came to light in September after the Chennai district Child Welfare Committee received information and filed a complaint. The girl had dropped out of school after Class IX.
According to the complaint, the girl's mother, who knew Thiagu for 14 years, had agreed to let him marry her daughter after she turned 18. The girl, her mother and Thiagu travelled to Puducherry on August 28 for a photo shoot and stayed at a hotel near Muthialpet. Thiagu allegedly sexually assaulted the girl on August 30 while her mother was outside the room.
Both Times of India and The Hindu report the same facts in neutral, straight news style: a zero FIR under Pocso, the accused named Thiagu, the mother's alleged consent for marriage after the girl turns 18, and the police search. The coverage is uniform wire-copy reporting with no editorial slant. The key open question remains whether Thiagu will be apprehended and what charges will be pressed against the mother, who according to the complaint was outside the room during the alleged assault.
The Puducherry police investigation will determine the next steps.
Coverage: 2 sources, 2 neutral
Sources (2): timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report), thehindu.com (neutral report)
This brief was synthesised by AI from the 2 sources linked above, so one read covers every framing they carry. Methodology and corrections.