27-yr-old arrested for abduction, rape of teen who wanted to go on Char Dham yatra
Police said the girl left her house in Jyotirmath on May 5 when her father was away to their native town in Uttar Pradesh in connection with his wife’s treatment
DEHRADUN: A 27-year-old man has been arrested on charges that he tricked a 15-year-old girl into leaving home in Uttarakhand’s Jyotirmath to go on a Char Dham pilgrimage on May 5 and raped her, police said on Monday.
The accused, identified by the police as Ashish, a resident of Jyotirmath, has been arrested and the girl has been handed over to her family, Chamoli superintendent of police (SP) Sarvesh Panwar said.
Police said the girl left her house in Jyotirmath on May 5 when her father was away in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad in connection with his wife’s treatment.
The family discovered she was missing when the father returned to Jyotirmath on May 13 and did not find her at home. He tried to locate her over the next few days and finally approached the police on May 16, alleging that she had been kidnapped.,
“We immediately registered an FIR under section 137 (2) (kidnapping) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS). We then constituted a special team to search for the minor” said station house officer (SHO) of Jyotirmath police station Devendra Rawat.
The investigators tracked down Ashish, the prime accused who goes by a single name.
“During interrogation, Ashish, who was friends with the minor, revealed that the girl wanted to go on the Char Dham Yatra. He (Ashish) brought the girl to his house for two days and had sex with her on several occasions,” Rawat said.
On May 8, he accompanied the girl to Haridwar 250km away where he left her with his friend Rohit Kashyap at his house and returned to Jyotirmath.
The police officer said the girl told Rohit and his friends on May 9 that she also wanted to go home and had cancelled her plan for the pilgrimage. Rohit told investigators that his friends Johnny, a bus driver, agreed to take her home in their bus but pointed out that their bus took a longer route via Guptkashi. She agreed.
“During the trip, Rohit misbehaved with her,” the SHO said.
Rawat said the vehicle was intercepted at Guptkashi. Rohit Kashyap was arrested and the girl was rescued.
“We have added offences under section 64 (rape), 74 (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 127(2) (wrongful confinement), 239 (intentional omission to give information of offence by person bound to inform) of the BNS apart from provisions of the Pocso Act.
