The police in Tamil Nadu have arrested a 57-year-old lawyer for allegedly sexually assaulting a nine-year-old girl on a train early on Sunday, The Hindu reported. The accused, KP Prem Ananth, was an election candidate for the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2006 in the RK Nagar Assembly constituency.

The alleged incident took place around 1 am on Sunday between the Coimbatore and Erode stations, the girl’s mother told The News Minute. The family was travelling in a reserved coach of a train going from Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai. Her mother alleged that Ananth, who did not have a reserved ticket, entered the coach and soon, started kissing the girl’s cheeks and touching her chest.

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The family complained to the ticket examiner and Ananth was handed over to police at the Erode station. The police booked him under relevant provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Videos that passengers recorded on the train indicate that he could have been inebriated, according to The News Minute. He was reportedly seen lying on the floor when the police were questioning him.

Ananth had an identity card of the Madras High Court Advocates’ Association. “He had an ordinary ticket,” an unidentified railway police official told The Indian Express. “But he got on a reserved compartment and occupied a berth opposite to where the child and her family was sleeping. We have spoken to the other passengers. When he was nabbed by the passengers, he threatened them by saying that he is a lawyer and well-connected with BJP.”

Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan said Ananth does not hold any key position in the party’s state unit. “I am told that he was not active,” she told The Indian Express. “Whatever it is, being a BJP member or a politician is not a label. If this crime has happened, he should be getting the maximum punishment on par with the latest ordinance.”

She was referring to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Ordinance 2018, which the government promulgated on Sunday. The ordinance allows courts to award the death penalty for those who are convicted of raping girls below 12 years of age.